The Last One
by Kayhera
Summary: What do you get when you mix a girl who wants to make everybody happy and a guy who's depressed? A romance like no other... (Includes Miroku-Sango and Sesshomaru-OC)
1. Trip Down a Well

**The Last One  
**An InuYasha Fan Fiction by Kayhera and Rayvn89

**SUMMARY/AUTHOR NOTES  
**Before our fan fic starts, InuYasha and the gang set off the fight Naraku. They found him in Naraku's castle (so it's different then the TV show/manga), and on the way to Naraku InuYasha and Kagome got separated by the others. None of the less, InuYasha was able to defeat Naraku and take the remaining Jewel Shards from him—at a price. Kagome died in the battle and for a month InuYasha is left to deal with the pain of his one true love gone (okay, second true love, but it sounded more dramatic the other way!). Luckily Miroku, Sango and Shippo were safe; Kagura, Kanna and Kikyo died shortly after the battle (Naraku made it to where when he died so did his creations, and Kikyo died because with Kagome dead Kikyo couldn't survive—some technicality based on the fact they sort of share the same soul), and the gang was able to put together the Shikon Jewel and destroy it completely. For reasons unexplained InuYasha didn't use the Shikon Jewel to become a full demon and just left it to Miroku "to deal with it."

Fast-forward a month later. Kagome's family moves away from the house and shrine they lived at and in moves Sueko Kimochi, your basic average sixteen year old who's always been interested in spiritual things. So it's really no surprise that she curiously enters the shrine at her new house, only to fall down the steps because of her clumsiness and fall down the well—and enter a whole new world where an entire destiny awaits her!

My friend, Ravyn89, and I, Kayhera, wrote this fan fic, though I'll be doing all the posting and updating. This may be our first InuYasha fan fic, but not the first fan fic we've ever written—the both of us have written countless Harry Potter ones, but you're not Harry Potter people so I won't go into detail with that. We watch the show on adultswim and have manga 1-11, so we're pretty well informed about the show. I realize the first chapter is a bit slow but I hope you read our fan fic anyways—and please reply so we can get praise/criticism to fix our writing up a bit. Hope you enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER  
**We don't own InuYasha—we're just bored high schoolers who don't want to do our homework so we write fan fiction instead! Hope you don't mind! InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, Shojen Jump, and whomever else makes/produces the manga, merchandise and show… you get the point.

However, there are a few things _we do_ own. I own Kimochi Sueko (or, in the English way, it's Sueko Kimochi), her respected family members, and friends that show up later on, including Hamasaki Tamika (or, Tamika Hamasaki). First off, I didn't have any information for Japanese last names, so I sort of took them… the last name Hamasaki comes from the singer of "Dearest," an InuYasha end song (Ayumi Hamasaki sings the song). As for Kimochi… well, at first I thought what it said after "Every Heart" was the person who sang it. Turns out the singer is actually BoA and Kimochi is just part of the song title… Kimochi is Japanese for feeling…. Well, I found this when it was too late to change Sueko's last name and I probably wouldn't anyways because I like how the two sound together, so whatever. Anyways, Ravyn has her own character too! Only one major one, however: Yoshiko, a tiger demon that shows up in Chapter Four (so you won't have to wait too long)! Anyways, happy reading, but don't forget that BOTH Ravyn and I are writing this, not just me, and to reply. Replies are really, really nice. I'd do the same for you if I knew you had a fan fic!

**NOTE**  
Just to let you know, neko is "cat" in Japanese. Sueko's pet cat's name is Neko, which just goes to show how well she is with naming things.

* * *

**Chapter One: Trip Down a Well**

Again. They were moving _again_. It was all for "business reasons," too. Kimochi Sueko didn't really mind moving but it kind of was a bummer to finally unpack the last box then find out you have to pack it all up again, move that one out again and then unpack it all… _again_. Plus Neko really wasn't enjoying being cooped up in a carrier for several long hours. And her mom wasn't enjoying having to take the cat out of the carrier afterwards. Cats have pretty sharp claws.

Smooth driving soon turned into a long gravel driveway. Her mother's smiling face turned to the back seat.

"Excited?"

"I guess," shrugged Sueko, looking out the window.

Slowly the large house came into view. Even after her parents told her about it the enormity of the house only then it impacted her. Plus there was the giant tree growing in the back. The first growing thing that she'd seen since she lain eyes on Tokyo. Well, with the name like "Sunset Shrine" she guessed you have to be a bit organic and spiritual looking. And a giant tree sure did the trick.

"I hear the school here is pretty good," said her father in an attempt to get her talking.

"School is school," said Sueko, her face plastered to the car window. "Who are they?" she said as they pulled in front of the house and saw a kind woman, a little boy and old man come out of the front door.

"Don't stare Sueko! It's rude," said her mother in a reprimanding way.

"Sorry…" said Sueko quietly, looking away.

When the car finally stopped she was slow in opening the door, not wanting to seem like she was in too much of a rush. It would be kind of mean to just run into the house and take over it. The family that lived there before probably really enjoyed living there. But if that was true, why were they moving? When she finally did make it to the porch her mother was talking to the women who had plastered a pretty fake smile on her face. The little boy hadn't been as thoughtful. He just stood, hunched over, moving his foot along the crease in the porch where the boards came together.

"Did somebody die?" asked Sueko.

"It's funny you should ask that…" said the old man, closing his eyes and putting his arms behind his back. Obviously this was his "story telling" mode. Sueko could just tell.

"Oh, he's just pulling your strings! Trying to scare you away," laughed the women.

"They have a right to know the truth," said the old man, looking at her with one eye.

"Gramps, do you have to?" sighed the boy.

Suddenly Sueko got this brilliant idea to hug the boy. He looked really down and lonely, as if he had lost something really close to him. So she hugged him. Of course, he was a guy so he was all like:

"Ew, gross! Get off me! What are you doing?"

Sueko jumped back looking a little hurt, but she could forgive him. He was a boy and boys don't really like to be hugged or kissed or anything like that, especially young boys. And some older boys like to be hugged and kissed but only by "good looking" girls. Whatever. Like she really cared about older boys. She doubted she would ever fall in love and that was just fine with her. She just wanted to make other people happy.

"I was hugging you. You looked so sad!" said Sueko matter-of-factly.

"Not even my sister hugged me… she normally just tried to strangle me," said the boy sadly.

"You have a sister?" said Sueko excitedly. It would be kind of nice if somebody could give her some tips on the school and the good places to eat.

"Oh yes! And I forgot!" said the old man, walking back into the house. For a minute they just all stood there awkwardly, then he peeked out again. "Well? Are you going to follow or not?"

Everybody just shrugged and followed the old man into the house. Sueko could all ready tell she was going to enjoy living there. There were more than enough rooms. Maybe her white-and-black-spotted cat could have her own room and everything. But then the old man was showing them a couple huge boxes filled with paper.

"These are spell scrolls to ward away evil. And be careful. There's a curse on this shrine that likes to take beautiful young girls!" said the old man matter-of-factly.

Sueko blinked. He was looking right at her. But that made no sense so she looked behind her. Nope, there was nobody behind her. Then she laughed.

"There obviously isn't a curse because I don't see any beautiful young girls here. Really old man, have you been drinking too much Sake?" laughed Sueko.

Suddenly the women started laughing too.

"My father, the big story teller. He likes to scare people. Pay no mind to him!" laughed the women. "Now, Sóta, why don't you and your grandfather go out to the car? I'll be there momentarily."

"Yes mom," said the boy. "It was nice meeting you. Oh, and the room upstairs was my sister's. Bye!"

"That… was… just a little… _er…_ weird, but okay!" said Sueko, shrugging. "I'm going to go check it out, okay mom?"

"All right. But be back down in ten minutes so we can unpack," said her mother.

"Yes mom!" said Sueko, running up the stairs and looking into the first room.

It was the only room in which it looked like nobody had touched. None of the furniture was gone. There was still a bed, a desk, and a little nightstand. So all the major stuff like clothes, alarm clocks and lamps were gone but everything else was still there, including a large yellow backpack that didn't look like it had been unpacked in ages. Sueko just shrugged and started poking around the room to see if she could find anything. Suddenly there was a knock at her door, making her jump.

"Sueko, can I talk to you?" asked her mother quietly.

"Yeah… what's up mom?" said Sueko, turning to see her mother sit down on the bed.

"We just found out from that woman that she had a daughter," started her mother.

"Well, the boy said he has a sister," shrugged Sueko.

"No, honey, _had_! As in the past tense! Her name was Kagome and she died from leukemia. The woman was hoping that you would take care of her room," said her mother softly.

"She's… dead?" said Sueko quietly. "And they want me to live in a dead girl's room!"

"The women said that you reminded her of Kagome and that there would be no greater honor than for you to take her room. Really, you would be disgracing them if you didn't," said her mother, standing up and leaving.

"But… a dead girl use to live in this room!" cried Sueko. Then she shrugged. "It's not like she _died_ in this room or anything," she said to herself, trying to look at the brighter side of things.

* * *

Sueko was always paranoid about her first day of school. She was always afraid of the littlest of things; what if all the kids hated her? What if she did something stupid to embarrass herself? What if she got lost and couldn't find any of her classes?

Well, despite the fact today was her first day of school—in Tokyo, none-of-the-less—Sueko was pretty sure she didn't screw anything up. She even met someone in her Math class. Hamasaki Tamika, though pretty loud-mouthed and bossy to the other kids in her class, was very nice to Sueko—probably because she was new and all. Though it was weird, sitting next to Tamika at lunch that day (Tamika had invited Sueko after class) since all the boys seemed to be staring at their general direction. At first, Sueko thought they were staring at _her_, and she started becoming worried about her shoulder length messy-brown hair, but it turned out they were staring at Tamika, not Sueko. Apparently Tamika was "good-looking," though Sueko never really paid attention to those sorts of things. With silky, long black hair always put back, a soft face and chocolate-brown eyes, Sueko did have to admit Tamika did look pretty, but she didn't expect it to be _that_ pretty…

None-of-the-less, she was hoping Tamika and her could be friends, despite the fact Tamika laughed when she found out about Sueko's strange addiction to the game, _Pokèmon_. And the fact Tamika thought Sueko was ditsy—but Sueko wasn't ditsy! She just… forgot things once and a while. Like, twice a day, at the very least.

Sueko shook her head. She better stop daydreaming, otherwise she'd get lost and never find her house! After all, with the direction sense Sueko had, it would be difficult enough to find it with a map—but she didn't even have that! She had been walking home from school, but even though she had just left school, Sueko wasn't wearing her school uniform. She _loathed_ skirts because she looked so horrible in them, so after school she changed her clothes so she wouldn't have to wear it any longer then she had to. It was a rather plain uniform, with a simple schoolgirl-style white shirt with a matching short green skirt, but Sueko wouldn't take any chances! Having changed in the restroom after school, Sueko was now wearing simple jeans and a purple sweater to go with—it may be September, but it was pretty nippy out. Besides, green really didn't match her complexion—no matter how many times her mother said it matched her hazel-green eyes.

However, Sueko would not have to fret too much about getting lost on her way home from school—a few minutes later she stumbled across an important-looking building, which had been next to her new house. She was home! She didn't even get lost once! Must be some sort of a new record…

Speaking of which, Sueko _had_ wanted to check out this building for some time… it made her think. Was it a shrine? Some sort of church? Another sort of sacred building? Not very religious herself, Sueko was still interested in "spiritual" things. They were so mysterious and fascinating, and made her think of the secrets they contained.

Setting down her bag next to a nearby tree, Sueko stepped inside the building. In the vast darkness she knew she had to step gingerly down the stairs, but even with her great care she still found herself losing her balance and flinging out her arms to stop her fall. Sueko closed her eyes, dreading the impact she would make with the ground.

But it never came. She just seemed to be falling and falling… Sueko opened her eyes and only saw a swirl of colors that made her eyes hurt, so she quickly closed them again. Just when she did this, she fell softly on a solid, dirt floor. There wasn't any pain at all.

Sueko sat up and opened her eyes. She seemed to be sitting in… a well? Out of the corner of her eye she saw a vine to her left, so, taking a deep breath—for Sueko really hated climbing, due to being high up and having the possible chance of falling down and dying some God-awful death—she stood up, walked to the ladder, and started to climb.

The well wasn't very deep—at least, it didn't take long for Sueko to get to the surface. Though she didn't have time to look at her surroundings (though she did note that it was very bright here despite the fact that the room had been dark before), for when she popped her head out, she was face-to-face with a young teenage boy who gave a startled cry and jumped up.

He was wearing a red kimono that was quite baggy, which puzzled Sueko. Normal people didn't walk around wearing kimonos and besides, she didn't see this boy in the building before she fell! But the boy continued to puzzle Sueko when she noticed his long silver hair, and… maybe she wasn't seeing correctly, but she could have sworn he had pointy dog-ears on top of his head that were the same color as his hair.

"Erm… hi," said Sueko nervously. "Um…" she paused to look around; she seemed to be near a forest, since there were trees nearby and the floor was covered with green grass. This definitely was _not_ the building she had just been inspecting. "How did I get here?"

* * *

'It's been a month already. I should be over it all ready! I shouldn't still feel this way… or think these thoughts,' InuYasha thought depressingly, as he leaned against the well and looked down at its depths, willing Kagome to come out of it. But she wouldn't. She couldn't. Kagome would never come out of that well ever again, because she was _dead_.

'Why must you be dead, Kagome? _Why_?' Everyone he had ever loved—his mother, Kikyo, and Kagome—all died. Was everyone he cared about destined to die? Was InuYasha followed by some sort of cruel curse of fate?

InuYasha sighed. He really hated thinking these thoughts, but they had been haunting him for weeks…

He knew the others—Sango, Shippo, and Miroku—were hiding behind a clump of bushes or something, probably talking about him, but trying to be quiet so he wouldn't know. Didn't they know that he was a half _dog_ demon or what? Though, for some strange reason, InuYasha didn't care. They could talk and worry all they wanted. InuYasha didn't care about anything any more… life without Kagome was _so_ very pointless…

One of InuYasha's pointy doggy-ears twitched. There was a noise… was it coming from the well?

'No,' InuYasha told himself. 'Kagome is gone. She's never coming back. I'm just imagining things…'

But the noise coming from the well became louder. It sounded like someone was climbing up… but that was impossible!

InuYasha poked his head into the well. He didn't see anything… Maybe he _was_ imagining things. Shaking his head, InuYasha choose to look straight ahead and tried to ignore the noise from the well and push the bittersweet memories of the Kagome, the girl he once loved, out of his head. Though it was rather hard to ignore the head that popped out of the well.

"AHH!" cried InuYasha, jumping up and stumbling back a few steps.

The two stayed where they were for a few seconds, analyzing each other's looks. The head was actually a girl—a rather cute looking girl, he had to admit, with a round face, messy brown hair (painfully like Kagome's, though it was a bit shorter) and greenish-hazelish eyes that were quite wide looking, which made her seem so innocent and childish looking.

"Erm… hi," said the girl nervously. "Um…" she paused, looking around, then looked back at InuYasha again. "How did I get here?" she asked, cocking her head to the side with a cute, confused expression on her face.

InuYasha was speechless. Only Kagome and himself could go through the well. How could this girl have gotten through it?

He heard shuffling behind him, and turned around to find Sango and Miroku appear suddenly looking very alert, with Shippo behind them, who just looked confused.

"Who are you?" asked Sango.

By now the brown-haired girl had climbed completely out of the well and stood nervously beside it.

"Um… Kimochi Sueko." Despite her nervousness she said it quite clearly.

"And how did you get here?" continued Sango.

"I fell," said Sueko. "Like, down the well. And came here. Where is here?" she added.

"The forest next to Kaede's village," explained Miroku calmly.

"Oh, how helpful! I've never heard of Kaeda, I'm really confused, I'm in some other world and I'm probably going insane, and there's a guy with doggy ears!" she cried, pointing to InuYasha.

"Feh!" responded InuYasha, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

"It's okay," said Sango kindly. "Just calm down…"

"How can I when I'm going insane!" cried Sueko.

"You're not going insane," said Sango. "Just trust me, okay?"

Then Sueko started doing something really weird. She closed her eyes and started taking deep breaths.

"What on earth are you doing?" snapped InuYasha.

Sueko opened her eyes and looked at InuYasha seriously. "Trying to calm down," she responded quietly, then closed her eyes and continued with her breathing. InuYasha rolled his eyes again.

After several seconds of this, Sueko stopped, opened her eyes, gave a fake smile and said in false-cheery tones, "Okay, done!"

"Good…" muttered InuYasha.

"So who are you all?" Sueko asked. If she had heard InuYasha she was doing a good job of ignoring his comment.

"I'm Sango, and this is Miroku, Shippo, and InuYasha," said Sango calmly, pointing out each person as she said their name.

"All right…" said Sueko. "Now WHERE AM I?"

"InuYasha Forest!" snapped InuYasha.

"You have a forest named after you?" Sueko gapped.

"Long story…" said InuYasha.

"Hmm…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"How did you get here?" Miroku asked again, as though making sure of things.

"I fell in a well and got here!" said Sueko.

"Why were you at Kagome's house?" asked InuYasha, glaring at Sueko.

"Kagome…" said Sueko thoughtfully, as though she had heard the name before but couldn't remember where.

"Do you know her!" InuYasha asked, almost—though he hated to admit—in a desperate way, as his arms dropped to his sides and his "indifferent" expression swiped off to be replaced by a hopeful and hurt look that seemed to show that he doesn't care but, somehow, you know he does, just by looking at his eyes.

"Well…" Sueko heisted, taken aback by InuYasha. But she replied none-of-the-less. "I just moved into her house. Her family moved. I don't know Kagome personally, but they said she died of—oh, what was it?—leukemia, I think."

"Figures," muttered InuYasha, looking away and crossing his arms. His face returned to that "indifferent" look it wore too often.

Shippo, who had been standing there observing, finally spoke up. "Maybe we should take her to Kaede! She's wise! She'll be able to explain it!"

"Good idea," said Miroku, nodding his head once in agreement and showing a small smile.

"So the village is named after her?" said Sueko. "InuYasha Forest, Kaede's Village… is there a Shippo Creek I should worry about?"

Shippo laughed at the sarcasm as Sango lead the way to Kaede's house. InuYasha trailed in the back, lost in his own thoughts.

How on earth did Sueko get here? No one but him and Kagome should be able to go through the well! Sóta and Shippo had both tried before but couldn't get through… was there more to Sueko then what meets the eye?

"InuYasha, are you coming or not?" asked Shippo.

"Feh…" muttered InuYasha, rolling his eyes.

* * *

So, how'd you like it? Please click on that little blue (or is it purple?) button on the screen and tell us! Or you could read all the chapters already posted and then write this really long reply… Whatever you want, just reply! Even if you thought it sucked! Just explain why it sucked so badly so we can make it better!


	2. A Dead Girl's Life

**AUTHORS NOTES:**

Fine, don't reply! Still posting next chapter… where the drama begins! Have fun with it. And replying would be nice…

**DISCLAIMER**

I don't know InuYasha (though I'm asking for him for Christmas. Santa, I've been a good kid! Can I get a boyfriend for Christmas?! One with doggy ears?), but ravyn89 and I do own the characters in this fan fic you don't recognize… and the story, of course! So don't steal.

**Chapter Two: A Dead Girl's Life**

"'Interesting. She came out of a well? Oh, wow! Well, she's definitely not a reincarnation of anybody but there's defiantly something spiritual about _her_! Maybe she should stay a while!' How about _not_!" muttered InuYasha later in the day after they had all visited Kaede in the village.

"I didn't ask to fall down the stairs, you know!" said Sueko huffily, arms and legs crossed.

"Feh"

"Is he _always_ like this?" Sueko muttered impatiently to Shippo, who seemed to have taken a liking in her.

"Um… pretty much," said Shippo, shrugging. "Did you know Kagome?" he added, as if to start on a conversation they had had before, but she hadn't really spoken to Shippo yet.

"No, I didn't," said Sueko. "But I have her bedroom. Does that count?"

Shippo found this very funny. Sueko didn't get why, but hey, he's happy, so that's okay. She was never exactly good with little kids…

"Are you going to stay?" Shippo asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" said Sueko kindly.

"Well…" Shippo attempted to explain, "are you just going to go back into the well after a while?"

"Maybe once and a while…" said Sueko. Though she really just wanted to cry out "Duh! Of course not! I'm STAYING!" but found that would be a bit of a rude thing to say. This was a totally new place, and Sueko hadn't even begun to explore it. She'd defiantly be here a while…

"Are you going to bring any rowlan back?" asked Shippo excitedly.

"_What?"_

"Rowlan! That noodle stuff that cooks with only water in five minutes!" cried Shippo, standing up with his excitement. Though Sueko didn't get why he was excited—perhaps for talking?

"You mean ramón?" hinted Sueko with a small smile. This kid was so cute!

"Yeah, that…" said Shippo, waving a hand aside as though how to say it correctly didn't really matter.

"Sure, I guess…" said Sueko.

"Good!" said Shippo, sitting back down and looking quite accomplished for not really any reason at all.

"Okay…" mumbled Sueko. Little kids really confused her.

There was a moment's silence in which the two tried to find something to say. Then Shippo blurted out, "Will you have to take a lot of those 'tests'?"

"Huh?" said Sueko, but a second later her brain started working again and she got what he meant. "I hate school. You think I'd go back for _school_? Nah… I'd just go back to pass the final exam with a C and live with that!"

Shippo sighed in relief. "Kagome always went back to take those 'test" things. I'd always miss her afterwards…"

It was a bit _too_ quite after that last comment, but what could Sueko say? She was sorry about everyone's loss, but she didn't know what to do about it! It's not like she could bring Kagome back or anything… she didn't even know the girl, only her family, and Sueko was quite sure that didn't count.

"I have something to cheer you up!" said Sueko, suddenly inspired by an idea. She had already gone back to her time to try and explain to her parents what had happened in five minutes (she had been eager to come back). Okay, they might think she was slightly insane, but her mom was fine with it, and so Sueko had crammed a few things in her book bag in case she needed something in the next few days, and one of them was her Game Boy. Which was actually in her book bag anyways (something to do in class), but whatever.

"Ooh!" said Shippo, grabbing it out of Sueko's hands and staring at it. "What is it?"

"A Game Boy. You play games on it. See, you turn it on…" Sueko switched the power button on, "and wait for it to load up and all that crap, and then you push the little buttons to play!"

After another five minutes of explaining how to work it some more, Sueko smiled down at Shippo with satisfaction as he eagerly played her _Pokèmon_ game. Okay, so it's probably wrong to introduce people from the past to things from the future, but he'd looked so sad earlier!

Now Sueko was left with nothing to do. Sango and Miroku had gone off to… somewhere—she hadn't paid attention to _where_ exactly—Shippo was playing with her game so she couldn't exactly use _that_, and as for InuYasha… well, he was off in dream world somewhere. Which Sueko was always staring off into space, but InuYasha didn't seem like the type to do that sort of thing. Maybe she'd only known him for a couple of hours, but she usually had a pretty good judgment of other people's personalities. It was a gift. And sometimes a curse…

Sueko got up and walked over to InuYasha, who was leaning next to a nearby tree.

"Hey," she said, sitting down beside him.

"What do you want?" he said, not looking up.

"You've been awfully quiet…" started Sueko.

"Yeah, so?" snapped InuYasha.

"Well," said Sueko, "Is anything troubling you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me, okay?" said InuYasha rather quickly.

"You don't _have_ to tell me," said Sueko. "It'd just be rather nice and all…"

"What's your problem anyways?" cried InuYasha, turning his head to look straight at Sueko. "There's. Nothing. Wrong. With. Me! Do you have ears?!"

"Oh, come on!" snapped Sueko impatiently. "It's totally obvious!"

"You just met me!"

"So? That just shows how obvious it is," said Sueko smugly, crossing her arms.

"What are you two doing?"

"Huh?" Sueko looked up to find Sango and Miroku standing before them. Apparently they were back from… whatever they were doing before.

Automatically Sango looked from Sueko to InuYasha and seemed to register what had been going on. She sighed then tried to look as friendly as possible.

"Sueko," said Sango seriously, "I want to tell you something."

"Okay," said Sueko. But then she realized Sango meant to talk in private. "Oh, whatever…" she mumbled, standing up and following Sango.

They walked a distance from everyone else before Sango found an "appropriate" place to chat. She sat down underneath a tree, and Sueko did the same. They sat there silently for a minute until Sueko started to get uncomfortable.

"Um… okay," said Sueko, picking a small flower nervously. "So… what do you want to talk about?"

Still Sango said nothing, staring off into the distance. Then her eyes flicked to the side and noticed Sueko slowly picking the petals off the flower. She smiled sadly and turned to Sueko.

"You see, InuYasha took Kagome's death very seriously and he still hasn't quite gotten over her," Sango explained.

"Uh huh…" said Sueko.

"She didn't die of leukemia, Sueko," said Sango. "She died from a demon."

It took a few moments for her brain to process this. Sueko supposed she should expect just about anything here, but…

"A d-demon?" stammered Sueko.

Sango nodded. "I understand where you come from demons don't exist, but… well… here they do. They control everything and attack innocent humans just for the fun of it."

"All right. I'll believe you," said Sueko. "So what exactly are demons supposed to be? Spirits? Monsters? What?"

"Some of them are giant centipedes and spiders but my father use to say that the most frightening were those that took on human form, because then you can't tell whether they're friend or foe, which has led many people not to trust strangers. Sometimes not even their own family," said Sango. "Of course, not all of them are bad. InuYasha isn't, for example…"

"InuYasha is a demon?" asked Sueko.

"He's only half demon. He's got a soft side too because his mother is human. But, you see, demons believe humans are weak and humans fear demons so neither side would accept him. For a long time he was all alone."

"InuYasha's lucky then, huh?" said Sueko, smiling slightly. "That he met you guys, I mean."

"Yes, he is," said Sango. "He was especially lucky to meet Kagome because she seemed to understand him better than anybody else. She also had this special charm where she was able to make him feel better. Just being around Kagome made you… well… happy in a way, no matter what."

Sango paused as if remembering times back when Kagome had still been alive. Sueko was just thinking that maybe she should leave and let her be alone when Sango turned back to her. This time her face was dark as if angry.

"But not all demons are good, and there was an especially evil one that loved to watch us suffer. His name was Naraku. In short his name means hell and that's what he was too, hell. He forced InuYasha and this women that he loved fifty years ago to fight each other. He cursed Miroku's grandfather with a wind tunnel in his right hand that was passed down through the generations. And…" said Sango, her face softening slightly. She almost looked ready to cry. "Naraku turned my little brother against me and made him kill our family and some of the best warriors in the Demon Slayer village. But we soon caught up with Naraku and InuYasha was able to defeat him. Though he was injured in the process, his biggest injury was that Kagome had died… protecting him."

All Sueko could think of saying after that was, "Wow."

"InuYasha and Kagome were in love with each other," continued Sango. "Sure, they were always bickering and fighting with each other, but you knew that they both loved each other very much. Which is why you probably shouldn't mention it in anyway to InuYasha again!" Sango said quite seriously.

"Sure…" said Sueko, who couldn't think of anything better to say.

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Sueko had never sat on a tree before. She'd never really been near trees where she lived—it had always been some sort of city. Well, she managed to climb the tree without falling down, but Sueko wasn't sure how she'd get back to the ground.

'You know, the tree didn't look _this_ tall from the ground…'

Heights were never Sueko's thing… but she was in the sort of mood where she wanted to be away from everyone else—it's much easier to think when there weren't people trying to talk to you. She realized they were trying to get to know her, but she wasn't in the talking mood! Besides, there was a nice view of the night sky from up here…

The thing was, ever since Sango's "chat" Sueko had been feeling the same way she felt right now: guilty. At first she didn't quite get why, but now she did.

Kagome died, and her family moved away. Sueko was the one who moved in. Sueko was the one who took her old bedroom. Sueko was the one who went to Kagome's old school. Sueko was the one who feel into _Kagome's_ well, stepped into _Kagome's_ life, and ran into _Kagome's_ friends. She was walking all over some dead girl's life! It was obvious everyone liked Kagome better! They were still getting over her being gone—Sueko couldn't just show up _now!_ And InuYasha obviously hated her for showing up because he loved Kagome.

There was only one solution to this problem. Sueko was surprised she didn't think of it in the first place. She didn't belong here! She'd just have to go back down that well and back home, because this wasn't her world! It was Kagome's, not Sueko's… She was just trespassing into an "Out of Bound's" territory, that's all.

But how to get down? It took about fifteen minutes, but eventually Sueko managed to slide down the trunk back to the ground. And, grabbing her book bag, which had been lying nearby, she headed towards the well, making sure no one was looking. Not that it mattered. They wouldn't care whether she was here or not!

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"InuYasha, have you seen Sueko lately?" asked Miroku, poking at the small fire with a long stick.

"No," said InuYasha. "Did you expect me to baby-sit her or something?"

"Just wondering…" said Miroku. "I haven't seen her around lately, that's all."

"Me neither," said Sango. "Where could she be, though?"

"I know where she went!" said Shippo quite suddenly, jumping up.

"Where?" asked Sango and Miroku simultaneously.

Shippo glared at InuYasha. "You made her go down the well, didn't you?"

"What?" said InuYasha, looking at Shippo. Seeing the expression on his face, InuYasha cried, "No I didn't! What makes you think I did?"

"Well, you obviously don't like her," started Shippo, crossing his arms.

"So you think I made her go down the well, eh?" snapped InuYasha. "Well, I haven't seen her all evening, so don't go pointing fingers at _me_!"

"I _know_ you made her go down the well!" cried Shippo, pointing an accusing finger at InuYasha.

"That's enough, Shippo!" said Miroku.

"Why do you even think she went down the well in the first place?" continued InuYasha. "She probably just went off somewhere. She's certainly foolish enough…"

"_Okay_, InuYasha," said Sango. "No one said you made Sueko go down the well."

"Feh."

"Maybe we should all split up and look for her," suggested Sango.

"_Maybe_ InuYasha should go through the well and get Sueko back!" snapped Shippo.

"She didn't go down the well, okay?!" said InuYasha.

"Enough!" said Miroku. "How about we just go with Sango's idea and look for Sueko."

"I'll look in the village," said Sango, standing up. "She might have gone there."

"I could go look back there," said Miroku, pointing to the area behind him. "InuYasha, how about you go into the forest and look for her there."

"Fine…" said InuYasha, who immediately stood up and walked into the forest. Sango and Miroku went their separate ways too, and Shippo was left standing in their little "camp ground" with nothing to do. So he decided to follow InuYasha.

"What do _you_ want?" snapped InuYasha, who didn't even have to look down at his knee-level to know Shippo was there.

"I want to know why you made Sueko go back into the well!" cried Shippo.

InuYasha stopped walking, closed his eyes in annoyance, sighed, and then said quite clearly, "Look, I don't know where Sueko is, okay? I don't want her to go back to her own time, so why would I send her down the well?"

"Because you've sent Kagome down the well before!" cried Shippo. "Why not Sueko?!"

That did it. All he had been thinking about for the past month was Kagome. He missed how she'd get annoyed at him, how the two would argue every time she went back to her own time to take those… test things… he missed how she could get happy so easily, he missed the way she looked… he even missed how she used to say, "Sit boy!" and make him lay face down on the ground, no matter how frustrating and irritating that was. Thinking about Kagome was one thing. Being reminded of her from someone was a totally different story.

"Go away, Shippo!" InuYasha cried.

"Wh—what?" stuttered Shippo.

"Go—go follow Miroku or something. Just leave me alone!" he yelled, pushing Shippo away with his foot.

"Eh… don't touch me!" cried Shippo, jumping out of the way. Ignoring Shippo, InuYasha started walking away.

"InuYasha!" cried Shippo. But he didn't respond.

'What is up with him lately? Say one little thing and he just snaps!' thought Shippo bitterly as he wandered back to the campsite.

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He had just met her. He didn't even like her that much, but InuYasha found himself desperately searching for Sueko. Maybe he just really wanted a distraction from his thoughts of Kagome… Whatever the reason, InuYasha was fine with it—there wasn't much else to do, after all.

But where on earth was this girl? If she was trying to hide, she was doing a damn good job of it! InuYasha didn't smell or hear anything in the forest that would suggest Sueko had been nearby.

'The others will find her. She's probably in the village or something.' But what if Sueko really _was_ down the well and back in her own time? It was a ridiculous thought, but maybe Shippo had yelled at him so much the idea was drilled into his head.

InuYasha sighed. There was only one way to find out whether or not Sueko did go down the well, and that was by him going down there himself. He wouldn't need to tell the others—he'd be quick.

So, taking a last whiff of the air for the scent of Sueko, InuYasha headed grumpily towards the well, cursing Sueko for making him go through this wild goose chase.

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_12. 2x(x-3)7(x-1)2  What is the property of x?_

"Oh, who gives a damn?!" muttered Sueko, pushing her math homework aside and sighing. She kept getting lost in thought, and it was quite difficult to do her make-up homework that way. 'How about I just go find something to read?'

So she got up off her bed and headed over towards her bookshelf. None of the titles jumped out at her, though.

"Fine, I won't read," she said to herself irritably, sitting back down and crossing her arms. Trying to think of something to do, Sueko couldn't help pondering, 'I wonder what InuYasha and the others are doing right now?'

Sueko shook her head. Why did she care? They obviously didn't care about _her_, so why should she care about _them_?

'They're probably glad I'm gone, I'm such a burden to them,' she thought miserably, though she couldn't help thinking, 'What about Shippo? Shippo likes me! But now he's probably mad at me because I left even though I said I wouldn't.'

_Tap-tap_.

'Now what could that be?' "Oh, it's probably the wind," muttered Sueko, picking up a book from her nightstand and opening it up, though not really reading it.

The taping noise grew louder and more persistent.

'What the heck?' thought Sueko, snapping her head around to get a good look out the window, and then falling off her bed in surprise.

"InuYasha?!" she cried, jumping up and opening the window.

"Hello to you too," he said bitterly, glancing around the bedroom.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, I was in the area…" muttered InuYasha.

"No, really!" cried Sueko.

"Well," sighed InuYasha, "Shippo wouldn't shut up, and everyone was all looking for you, and I was just _thinking_ there might be the _slightest_ chance you were here, so… you know…"

"They're all looking for me?" said Sueko, immediately feeling guilty.

"No, they're not worried, they just had nothing else to do, so they decided to go looking for you," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "Can I come in now?"

Sueko's response was picking up the book from her bed and hitting InuYasha on the head with it.

"OW! What was that for?!"

"Oh, I don't know," said Sueko, a small smile appearing on her face, but she moved out of the way so InuYasha could come in.

"Sueko?" cried her mom from downstairs. "Is everything all right?"

Sueko's face paled. "Um… Oh, everything's fine!" she called back in a false-cheerful voice. But then, getting an idea, her face really cheered up and she cried, "Hey, mom, can you come up here for a minute? I want to show you something!"

InuYasha moaned.

"Oh, shut up," said Sueko. "I have a book."

"Yeah, I can see that," said InuYasha, rubbing his head.

"Besides," stated Sueko, "I have to prove to my parents that I'm not going crazy."

"You're not going crazy," said InuYasha. "You already have been for a very long time."

"I have a book, you know!"

"Honey, is everything all right?" said Sueko's mom, opening the bedroom door. Spotting InuYasha, she went, "Oh… my…"

"Hey, mom!" said Sueko cheerfully, waving a hand brightly.

"Uh…" said her mom.

"Here's my new friend, InuYasha!" said Sueko, gesturing at InuYasha.

"Yeah, yeah," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes.

"Now shake hands!" Sueko ordered, glaring at InuYasha. "And, oh yeah, this is my mom."

"I see that…" muttered InuYasha, though shook her mothers' hand.

"So… what are you, anyways?" said the mom once they were done.

"Oh, just your basic average half demon," said InuYasha like this was nothing of importance and he just wanted to move on.

"D—demon?" stammered her mom.

"He's a half dog demon, mom," said Sueko. "I fell down the well and met him!"

"You already told me that…" said her mom wearily.

"Yes, well, just making sure you didn't think I needed a straight-jacket!" Sueko cried cheerfully.

"Yeah…" muttered InuYasha.

"Don't mind him, he's really quite nice once you get to know him," added Sueko.

"Feh."

"Is that a sword?" cried Sueko's mom, pointing at InuYasha's scabbard.

Sueko laughed nervously. "Let's go meet dad…" she muttered, grabbing InuYasha by the sleeve of his robe and dragging him to the next room over.

"Hey, daddy?" said Sueko timidly, knocking on the bedroom door.

"Hi, sweetie," said her dad, not looking away from the computer monitor he was working with.

"Here's my friend, InuYasha, that I told you about," continued Sueko.

"All right, dear," said her dad distractedly. He looked up suddenly and, seeing InuYasha, took his glasses off and hurriedly wiped them clean.

"You're seeing correctly, dad," said Sueko, sounding both amused and tired at the same time.

"Is he one of those punk kids from school?" asked her dad.

"No!"

"Does he go smoking pot and stuff?"

"NO!!!"

"But the ears…"

"Aren't they so cute and fuzzy?" cried Sueko, rubbing one of them lovingly.

"Don't touch the ears…" mumbled InuYasha.

"Is that a sword?"

'Why are they noticing THAT!?' "Yeah, well, he has to go fight demons and stuff. Hey, I'm kinda hungry, I'm gonna go hit the fridge…"

"Now wait just a minute!" said her father, standing up and walking up to InuYasha and Sueko. He looked as though he found InuYasha threatening but was trying really hard not to show it.

"Hi," said InuYasha, noticing the expression on his face.

"I don't—erm—think you should be hanging around with guys like—erm… _that_," started Sueko's dad.

"Oh, he's not dangerous or anything!" started Sueko. "Unless you're his enemy. Then I suppose you should watch out or he'll kill you."

"I only kill demons, okay?" said InuYasha, who seemed like he just wanted to leave the room.

"I know what I'm doing, dad!" said Sueko. "I'm not stupid or anything! Really!"

"All right…" said the dad. "I'm keeping my eye on you though…" he said, pointing a finger at InuYasha.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," said InuYasha, waving a hand.

"Okay, I'm hungry. Let's go!" said Sueko, pulling InuYasha out of the room.

"Your parents are weirder then Kagome's were," said InuYasha outside the room.

"Yeah, I kinda got that a long time ago," said Sueko. "But I was being serious when I said I was hungry."

InuYasha shrugged, as if he didn't care whether they ate or not.

"Do you like ramón, or is that just Shippo?" asked Sueko.

"It's _okay_," said InuYasha, shrugging again.

"Oh, whatever. I just moved, so I don't have much else. Not even chocolate…" said Sueko sadly.

"I take it you like chocolate," said InuYasha.

"Uh huh," Sueko said, opening the many cupboards in the kitchen to find something edible to eat.

"Hey, can you make this quick? I kinda wanted to get back, because I bet everyone's all afraid I died along with you by some demon," said InuYasha. Then he laughed at the thought. "Feh, like _I'd_ get myself killed by some silly demon…" But then he stopped abruptly, as if saying that made him think of some experience he really didn't want to think about.

Sueko let it slide, too busy with her food-hunt to start asking what was bugging him. Eventually she found a package of ramón and, waiting for the water to boil, she said, "So."

"Huh?" said InuYasha, looking distracted.

"What's up with you?" asked Sueko, though she already sort of knew what it was. Well, she had a hunch…

"Nothing…" said InuYasha.

"Oh yeah, so this 'nothing' of yours really upsets you?" said Sueko sarcastically, not really in the mood.

"If I say it's nothing that means I don't want to talk about it, okay?" snapped InuYasha.

"But that still leaves me with none of my questions answered," said Sueko.

"So?"

"So, I just want to know, okay? How am I supposed to make you feel better if I don't know what's wrong?" she snapped.

"Why do you want to make me feel better?" asked InuYasha, startled by the idea.

"Because you're upset and it makes _me_ upset, okay?" cried Sueko.

"Feh."

"Don't start that!" cried Sueko.

"Your water's boiling."

"So? I don't care about that—"

"If you don't do something about it, it's gonna start of overflow, which would probably cause a fire, and I don't think your parents would like me that much after that."

"I DON'T CARE!" bellowed Sueko.

"I'm not going to say what's wrong, so it's rather pointless for you to keep asking," said InuYasha, who didn't seem startled at all by Sueko's outburst, and had crossed his arms.

"Oh, _fine_ then!" yelled Sueko, pouring the water into the cup of ramón and slamming the kettle back down.

"I'll wait for you upstairs…" mumbled InuYasha, walking out of the room.

"Be that way…" muttered Sueko angrily to herself and, despite the fact that it hadn't even started cooking yet, tried to eat the noodles. Which just frustrated her even more, them being hard as rock and all, so she just threw the whole thing in the garbage and marched back upstairs, ignoring her unsatisfied stomach.

"Um…" said InuYasha as Sueko opened her bedroom door and started throwing things into her book bag, not caring whether or not she'd need these things in the Feudal Era or not. She didn't even wait for InuYasha as she left the house and headed toward the well.

"What is _up_ with her?" muttered InuYasha to himself as he hurried after her.

If Sueko could hear him, she obviously wasn't showing that she cared.


	3. The Five Shrines

**AUTHORS NOTES:  
**No one is reading this fan fic, but we like writing it so much we're still posting. By the 20th chapter, if no one is still reading this, well, TOO BAD FOR THEM!!! They are missing out on a very interesting and entertaining fan fic, and it's their loss! If you actually are reading this fan fic, here's a cookie and a prayer that you'll reply to our fan fic and make us feel all happy inside. :) Anyways, here's more…

**DISCLAIMER  
**We _still_ don't own InuYasha, but Kayhera is keeping a good lookout for a well. :D Meanwhile, we do own the following: the five shrines, Sueko, and… well, in this chapter, that's it. Oh, and Sueko's family and odd cat… The cat is quite confused… Neko seems to like InuYasha a lot too…

By the way: Neko is cat in Japanese, which just goes to show how pathetic Sueko is when it comes to naming things. :) Now, enough chitchat, here's more! R&R! (read and reply)

**Chapter Three: The Five Shrines**

"Yay! Sueko! You're back!" cried Shippo, jumping up and down and InuYasha and Sueko climbed out of the well.

Noticing her frown he stopped jumping and turned to InuYasha.

"What did you do this time!?" he yelled.

"Wh—what!? What makes you think I did anything? She won't even talk to me anymore so don't go blaming everything on me!" said InuYasha, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Humph!" said Sueko, throwing down her book bag and sitting down huffily.

"Are you all right?" asked Sango kindly.

"Oh yes, I'm just fine. _Everything _is just fine," said Sueko sarcastically.

"I think I'm with Shippo on this one. What did you do InuYasha?" asked Miroku.

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" yelled InuYasha.

In reply Miroku stood up and hit him over the head with his staff.

"Would you like to repeat that?" he said calmly.

"What was that for!?" cried InuYasha.

"Because you're lying to him about what you did to make Sueko so mad!" yelled Shippo, his little hands in fists.

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" growled InuYasha.

"You know you're quite outnumbered so you might as well give us the truth," said Miroku calmly.

"He didn't do anything, okay? Now will you all just all shut up?" cried Sueko, not looking at anybody. In fact, her eyes were closed like she was really pissed off but didn't want anybody to notice.

There was a moment of silence in which InuYasha sat down huffily and Miroku followed suit. Shippo walked over and started beating up on InuYasha's knee until he just punched the little guy over the head. Then a small figure bounced onto InuYasha's nose and started sucking his blood.

"Master InuYasha, nice to suck you again," came the small voice of Myoga the flea.

"What the hell!?" cried Sueko, leaning in closer to look at the small flea on InuYasha's nose.

"Ah, would this be the new spiritual women I have heard rumors about?" said the flea.

"Excuse me? Me? _Spiritual_? You've got the wrong girl!" laughed Sueko.

"Didn't Kaede say something to that effect when we went to go see her?" muttered Sango.

"Do you mind?" growled InuYasha, flicking Myoga off of his nose.

"I get no respect…" wheezed Myoga as he floated to the ground.

"Do you do that to him often?" asked Sueko, eyes wide.

"Every chance I get," muttered InuYasha, a bit shocked that she was actually talking to him again. It usually took a while for Kagome to be nice to him after getting angry with him.

"Whatever," said Sueko, sitting back down and crossing her arms.

'Maybe she's a bit more like Kagome than I thought,' thought InuYasha, rolling his eyes.

"So, what news do you bring Myoga?" asked Miroku.

"Some great news, actually," said the flea, sitting down and crossing each of his four arms.

"Well, get on with it all ready," said InuYasha impatiently. "We don't have all day!"

"It's night time," muttered Sueko angrily.

"Thanks for the forecast, Miss Know-It-All," snapped InuYasha.

"I don't know everything and we do have all _night_ because it isn't like we're doing anything at this moment," said Sueko icily.

"How would you know that? You ran on home!" cried InuYasha.

"You weren't being all that cooperative, now were you! Or nice for that matter!" yelled Sueko.

"All right you two! Just calm down!" said Sango.

"Humph!" said both InuYasha and Sueko, looking away from each other.

"As I was saying, when I heard about the young maiden that had come through the bone eater's well I had to investigate. Along the way I heard that the five shrines of the elements had been seen glowing, as if they were suddenly awake after many years," said Myoga importantly.

"Wait, wait, wait. Bone eater's well? Five shrines of one thing or another? _Glowing_ shrines? What are you talking about!?" cried Sueko, waving her arms around as if trying to slow everything down.

"The bone eater's well is the well that you fell into," explained Sango. "I know nothing about these shrines, though…"

"That's because nobody is supposed to know about them," said Myoga.

"So why do you, huh, flea?" said InuYasha menacingly.

"Because I knew your father who once helped to protect one of the shrines. In fact, all dog demons protect the Wind Shrine," said Myoga matter-of-factly. "There are five shrines. Two protected by humans, two by demons and the fifth by a neutral source. The two protected by mere mortals is the Water Shrine and the Earth Shrine. The dog demons protect the Wind shrine, as you know, and the tiger demons protect the Fire Shrine."

"So what protects the fifth shrine?" asked Miroku.

"I'm not there yet! Be patient!" said Myoga angrily. "As I was saying, each of the four shrines has four magical stones connected to the element the shrine promotes. For example, there are four Wind Stones, each of which are missing."

"What do these stones look like?" asked Sango.

"They're quite ordinary stones with the same color as the element it is tied to," explained Myoga.

"That doesn't work though, flea. Wind doesn't have a color!" laughed InuYasha.

"No, but the color of the Wind Stones is yellow," said Myoga.

"Wait…" muttered Sueko, eyes widening.

"What?" snapped InuYasha.

Sueko just sat there as if in deep thought, her eyes wide. But the fact that she wasn't saying anything was annoying InuYasha so he sighed and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Hello? Are you going to say something or not?" he cried, shaking her.

"Oh, yeah," said Sueko, blinking. "You said the stones of Wind Shrine were yellow, right?"

"Yes," answered Myoga.

"And they're all missing, right?"

"Yes."

"Do they look like this?" asked Sueko, pulling out a chain with a medium sized yellow stone from her shirt. InuYasha could tell why it had been hidden. It would look a bit dorky against her purple sweater.

"Where did you get that!?" cried Myoga.

"It's a family heirloom. I got it for my fifth birthday," said Sueko, tucking it back into her sweater.

"What does that mean?" breathed Sango.

"It means that my theory was correct," said Myoga, looking smug.

"And what theory would that be?" growled InuYasha, suddenly in a bad mood. The thought of Sueko having a purpose to stay here reminded him of Kagome. Besides, she reminded him of Kagome enough she didn't need to stay here!

"The theory that this beautiful young women is the missing link in the protection of the final shrine: the Shrine of Spirit," said Myoga dramatically.

"Speak English, bug!" cried Sueko. "If I'm important and spiritual and all that junk that I didn't think I was then at least make it so I can understand what the hell you're saying!"

"The protector of the fifth and final shrine is you… Sorry, I haven't gotten your name yet…"

"Kimochi Sueko," said Sueko a bit awkwardly, as if she didn't really like introductions to begun with, but now she had to do it all over again.

"Then you, Kimochi Sueko, are the protector of the Spirit Shrine," said Myoga dramatically, as though he had to say the whole thing properly or else.

"Erm… all right then," said Sueko nervously, obviously not used to this sort of thing. "What does that mean?"

"It means your protect this shrine!" snapped InuYasha. "What else is it supposed to mean?"

"Well… what do you mean by _protect_?" asked Sueko, glaring at InuYasha.

"You protect the stones for each of the shrines," explained Myoga.

"I protect all that?" Sueko gapped.

"It is your duty to find each of the stones and put them in their proper place so that nobody can make it into the Spirit Shrine," stated Myoga.

"What's so special about this fifth shrine?" muttered InuYasha.

"It is what gives mystical powers to a select few who can gather all the stones and… well there's one other thing that you have to have to get in but… uh… I…" said Myoga, blushing.

"You don't know what it is, do you?" muttered InuYasha.

"Well, it's not from a lack of trying!" said Myoga, jumping up and down. "Besides, the last person to go into this shrine was the Priestess Kikyo."

"Who?" said Sueko, blinking.

"Just some girl who had tremendous powers. She protected the Shikon Jewel for some time. Then Naraku tricked us into fighting and she bound me into the God Tree in the forest," explained InuYasha tonelessly.

"This isn't like you…" said Sango. "Normally we couldn't get you to say anything about Kikyo!"

"Wasn't Naraku the guy who killed Kagome?" said Sueko.

Without a word or sound InuYasha stood up and walked away.

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"Okay, that was stupid…" muttered Sueko, watching InuYasha walk away sorrowfully.

"No one blames you," said Sango, trying to make Sueko feel better. Not that Sueko knew why… did she look upset?

"I'll go talk to him…" sighed Sueko, getting up and walking away.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," started Myoga, but noticing Sueko wasn't paying attention, gave up.

All she wanted to do was apologize to InuYasha for being such a wrench, but Sueko found that terribly difficult when she found InuYasha.

See, he was sitting. Like, on a tree branch.

It was an awfully tall tree…

Sueko sighed. She would just have to grit her teeth and climb up it—that's how much she wanted to say sorry! Though apparently it was a very loud sigh, or he just had excellent hearing, since after Sueko had sighed she heard someone cry, "What are you doing?!"

She looked up, and blushed. "I—I wanted to apologize!" she called up, feeling very stupid and foolish for not being able to climb up the tree.

InuYasha looked away from Sueko. "You didn't need to…"

"Yes I did!" she cried. "Oh, this is stupid!" and, taking a deep breath, started climbing up.

"What is your problem?" cried InuYasha.

"I don't like heights," said Sueko through gritted teeth, her eyes silted as she climbed, inch by agonizing inch, up the tree.

InuYasha paused, as if unsure of how to respond to that. Apparently that's not what he meant. "Why are you climbing up the tree?"

"To apologize!"

"Why are you apologizing!? I already said you didn't need to!"

"'Cause—I—want—to!" panted Sueko. By now she had reached the part of the tree InuYasha was sitting at. InuYasha rolled his eyes, but gave Sueko a hand and pulled her up so they were both sitting on the branch.

It was then that the weirdest thing happened. Sitting on the tree branch, digging her nails into the bark so she wouldn't fall, Sueko was looking at InuYasha's face—he was trying his best to look like nothing was bothering him but you could tell something was—and this… _tingly_ feeling occurred in the pit of Sueko's stomach.

"Uh…" moaned Sueko.

InuYasha, thinking Sueko was nervous about being up in the tree, put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry! You won't fall!"

Sueko's heart started beating really fast, and her cheeks were reddening, though she didn't have the slightest clue as to why. Shaking her head, Sueko tried to ignore these alien feelings and said, "I'm sorry."

"What are you—oh. I already said you didn't need to apologize!" said InuYasha.

"But I wanted to! I was being stupid! I shouldn't have brought up Kagome!" cried Sueko, sitting up. But that made her wobble so she put her hands on the branch again to steady herself.

"But you don't need—" started InuYasha, but gave up. He sighed, looked up at the sky, as if to be deep in thought again. Instead he said very quietly as though it took all he got to speak, "How much do you know about—about t—that night that K—Kagome died?"

Not only was Sueko not feeling good at all, but she really wasn't expecting _this_! She really wanted to give him a hug because he looked so sad but she'd probably just fall off the tree branch she was sitting on and die a horrible death, so she decided against it.

"Well…" said Sueko quietly. "Sango told me that you were battling this Naraku guy—and also how he'd cursed Miroku with the Wind Tunnel, killed everyone Sango knew, and made you cursed to a tree—so you were fighting him for revenge and all, but then Kagome—" 'Oh, what's another word for died? Killed? Mutilated? Oh, _think_!'

"Yeah," said InuYasha suddenly, stopping Sueko's train of thought.

"You really liked her, didn't you?" asked Sueko, talking so quietly her voice was barely a whisper.

"Well, I was in love with her," said InuYasha, giving a half-shrug as though his heart wasn't in it.

The two didn't talk for a while but just sat there up in a tree. Sueko realized that it wasn't so bad sitting there… it actually wasn't that high up…

"What's it like?" asked Sueko suddenly, kicking her feet back and forth a little.

"What?" said InuYasha, looking back down at her.

"Falling in love," said Sueko with a small smile. "I've never done it before."

InuYasha gave a small laugh. "Why ask _me_ something like that?"

"I'm just curious…" said Sueko a bit timidly.

"Well, it's… weird," said InuYasha. "I don't know! Why are you asking me?"

Sueko shrugged, giving up.

"You're really weird. You know that?"

"I'm not weird!" snapped Sueko.

"Not in the bad way…" said InuYasha defensively.

"How could it possibly not be in the bad way?" asked Sueko, crossing her arms and forgetting her fear of heights for a moment because of her anger.

"Look, I've met quite a few weird people and I know the difference between good weird and bad weird. So trust me on this one," said InuYasha.

"Humph," was Sueko's only response, and left the two in complete silence for a few minutes.

Breaking the silence, InuYasha said quite moodily, "Don't go expecting me to go protecting you all the time, either!"

'That's random!' "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a cruel world out there and I'm not killing all the demons that go after you!" explained InuYasha crankily.

"Hmm…" said Sueko. "I have a sword."

"What?" said InuYasha, raising an eyebrow at Sueko.

"I have all these family heirlooms and one of them is a sword," she explained, shrugging. "That work for you?"

"Uh… sure, I guess…"

"You know," said Sueko thoughtfully, "I should probably run back home anyways. I sort of left kinda abruptly… without telling anyone…" she added with a mumble, blushing slightly, though it was dark outside so no one would have seen it.

To her surprise, InuYasha said casually, "I'll go with you," before quickly climbing down the tree.

"Um…" said Sueko, not to what InuYasha just said, but the prospect of having to climb down the tree.

"Oh…" said InuYasha, looking up at Sueko, sighing, and climbing up to help bring her down.

Her heart skipped a beat as InuYasha made contact with her skin, but Sueko hastily ignored it and mumbled a hurried "Thanks" before walking quickly towards the well, not even waiting for InuYasha. But he could keep up, so that's okay. Actually, with the strange feeling she was experiencing, Sueko just walked past Miroku, Sango and Shippo (and Myoga too if he was still there) without even saying hi. She kind of felt bad as she went carefully down the well without saying a word, but she really wasn't in the mood.

It had to be PMS. It was the only explanation. But she wasn't having cramps…

"You're in a hurry," commented InuYasha in modern day.

Sueko just shrugged and headed over toward the house.

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"Tell me why you need a sword again," said Sueko's dad about ten minutes later, handing Sueko's great-great-great-great-and-about-ten-other-greats-something's sword to his only daughter.

"To battle demons, dad!" cried Sueko. 'I've only explained that to you about ten hundred times already!'

The father shrugged, as if giving up, and once Sueko had gotten the sword and was saying good-bye to her parents, hissed in Sueko's ear, "If that punk-kid makes a move on you, hit him with that sword."

"Dad!" cried Sueko, not bothering to keep her voice down. "He's not Miroku!"

"Who's Miroku?" asked her mom, oblivious to her husband's warning.

"Nothing…" said Sueko, waving a hand aside. Shippo had told her about Miroku's strange habit of touching woman in… an inappropriate spot…

"Bye mom and dad!" said Sueko happily, waving.

"Yeah. Bye," said InuYasha.

"Bye, Neko!" added Sueko, stroking her black and white cat. Neko, noticing the presence of InuYasha, started to sniff him.

"Feh," greeted InuYasha. The cat meowed.

"Okay, you're done now," said Sueko, moving the cat away gently with her foot. And, getting one last hug from her mom ("Mom, you're done too!"), Sueko and InuYasha headed back towards the well—and back into Feudal Japan.


	4. Yoshiko, the Tiger Demon

**AUTHORS NOTES:**

Congrats to our first reviewer, **BlackTearsOfDarkness**, who is author to a very, very excellent fan fic called "When It Rains." I recommend it to any Harry Potter fans out there! She gave such a nice review! I like the cat too. Shame you only saw a little bit of the cat in the last chapter… later on in the story you learn more about Neko. Let's just say it's more of a dog then a cat… And thanks for the comments! If you want to give any criticism don't mind in doing so, just as long as you do it nicely—otherwise you'll hurt Sueko's feelings! ;) Now, I'm warning you, this is kinda a longish chapter—wait, that shouldn't be a bad thing!

**DISCLAIMER**

We don't own InuYasha, or Kouga, or Sesshomaru (though Kayhera doesn't care about the fact that we don't own Sesshomaru :D ). Though don't get your hopes up, Kouga and Sesshomaru don't show up in this post. But they'll show up soon as possible!!!!!

Yoshiko is from the great mind of Ravyn89, so you can't have her, sorry. Plus Sueko belongs to me… and the plot, that belongs to us too! And… I think that's it… oh, wait—nope, that's all. Well, I'll shut up now so you can read. :) R&R!

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**Chapter Four: Yoshiko, the Tiger Demon**

It was quiet. Of course, that was the way Yoshiko had lived for the past five years when not fighting demons. She followed no path in particular in the forest but seemed to forge one all her own. Cats have a good sense of direction. Not that she was a cat. Yoshiko looked quite human except no normal human has orange hair, green eyes, black stripes on their cheeks, and tiger ears and tail. This was because Yoshiko was only half human. The other half was tiger demon.

Walking alone quietly in the forest left a lot of time for thought. And, quite naturally, her thoughts tended to wander to her brother. For many years he had done good, gaining his dream of being a medicine man. Then it was like he dropped off the face of the planet. Twice now she visited his small house to yield no clues to where he could have disappeared.

'That's what you get for living alone,' thought Yoshiko, turning north toward a village she knew to be near by.

Normally she avoided humans as much as possible knowing they would mistake her as a demon and attack. Even after the destruction of Naraku demons still attacked unsuspecting villages.

But it was because of Naraku that she was heading to this specific village. It was rumored that the half-demon InuYasha had finally destroyed Naraku only after the reincarnation of Kikyo had been killed. Also there was a whisper of another mortal girl with greater powers even than the priestess; that in some way she was connected to the shrines…

It was because of the Water Shrine that her father had been killed. He had possessed one of the four water stones, something as greatly sought as the Shikon Jewel had once been.

During her thoughts her ears twitched and she found her eyes flicking from side to side.

'You're near a village. You're bound to hear something,' thought Yoshiko continuing on her way.

But just as she took one more step somebody came jumping out of the trees. With one flick of her eyes she registered that her attacker had a sword. In the time it takes to blink an eye, Yoshiko had drawn her own sword and the sound of metal hitting metal was filling the forest. She had yet to turn toward her attacker.

"Wait, InuYasha! Wait!" cried a girl, stumbling out of the trees right in front of Yoshiko.

Her eyes flicked to her attacker, quickly taking in the white hair, dog-ears and yellow eyes. Smiling she jumped a fair distance away so she could see every move he made.

"Did she call you InuYasha?" implied Yoshiko.

"What's it to you!?" cried InuYasha, leaping forward and swinging his large sword.

"The Tetsusaiga…" muttered Yoshiko, leaning backwards so as to dodge the attack.

As InuYasha brought his sword up, attempting to cleave Yoshiko in two, she kicking out, sending him flying into a tree.

"Um… why are they fighting?" asked the girl, speaking to a woman in armor and carrying a large boomerang.

"Though he wouldn't admit it, InuYasha is a bit protective of the village and wouldn't let any demon attack it," explained the women.

"What makes you think I want to attack the village?" asked Yoshiko, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Feh," said InuYasha, standing up and readying his sword. "Don't play innocent, DEMON!"

With that he rushed forward, aiming for Yoshiko's neck. This time she made no attempt to dodge. Instead she brought up her own sword and blocked the blow one handedly.

"How often do you train, InuYasha?" inquired Yoshiko, a laugh attempting to rise up her throat.

"My training is none of your concern," replied InuYasha, trying a blow to the head.

Yoshiko moved quickly to dodge and come behind him. She lifted her sword, thinking of only hitting his head with the hilt when another sound came to her ears. The woman was throwing her weapon.

Recovering from her shock in a mere second, Yoshiko punched the boomerang aside and turned back to InuYasha. It had been enough time for him to recover as well and he was aiming a blow at her waist. She smirked and brought her fist down on his hand. In surprise InuYasha dropped his sword and jumped away. It returned to its original form.

"Demon, be gone!" cried another male voice.

"What is it with you people?" cried Yoshiko, dropping to the ground, sheathing her sword and tripping InuYasha all in one fluid motion.

The source of the voice was a young monk who had been aiming a blow at her head with his staff. But Yoshiko's sudden drop had tripped him up, allowing her to grab his staff. As she stood back up she used the monk's staff to swing him around and into InuYasha.

"Miroku!" cried the woman, rushing forward while drawing her sword.

"Do any of you give up?" asked Yoshiko mildly.

"Get off, monk," growled InuYasha.

"Um… hi…" said the girl, waiving. "Would you mind not fighting?"

"I don't know. Will they stop attacking?" replied Yoshiko.

"And let you go and attack a defenseless village? I don't think so!" yelled InuYasha.

The girl's reply was to walk over and hit him on the head.

"Be nice! _You_ attacked her!" Then she turned to Yoshiko. "I'm Sueko by the way. This is Sango, Miroku, InuYasha and hiding over there in the bushes is Shippo."

A small fox demon popped his head out of the bushes and grinned sheepishly.

"How cute. A squirrel," said Yoshiko calmly, turning back to the girl introduced as Sueko. She was dressed strangely in a tight purple and faded blue outfit. On her shoulder she carried a large bag and, most peculiar still, she carried a sword. "Please tell me you can use that thing better than your friend."

"What?" said Sueko, blinking. "Oh! This? Nope, I've never used it before in my life."

"But you are that strange girl that came out of the well," probed Yoshiko.

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily say strange…" started Sueko but Sango cut in by saying, her sword still out: "What would it be to you?"

"Well, seeing how cat-like I am… I'm just simply curious," shrugged Yoshiko. "But if you are not the girl related to the shrines then I'll be on my way."

Without even a last look at InuYasha she turned on her heels and started walking away. Then the sound of somebody picking up something came to her ears.

"Where do you think you're going?" growled InuYasha.

"Oh, look. The little doggy still wants to play," laughed Yoshiko, looking back over her shoulder. "Well, I've got news. I all ready beat you. _Bad_. I suggest giving up. Not only fighting me but fighting with that sword unless you decide to use it properly."

"What do you mean use it properly!?" cried InuYasha. "I can use it just fine!"

"Of course you can. And the squirrel in those bushes is brave," smirked Yoshiko.

"Hey! I am too brave!" cried Shippo, shaking a tiny fist at her.

All she had to do was hiss and he jumped right back into the bushes.

"I believe I've proven my point," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"Wait! Don't go!" said Sueko, stepping forward.

"Be careful!" cried Sango.

"What now?" sighed Yoshiko, turning back around. The girl was awkwardly unsheathing her sword to show that it was glowing a slight blue color. "Where did you get that sword?"

"Family heirloom," shrugged Sueko. "But do you know why it glows?"

For a while Yoshiko just looked from the sword to Sueko in an almost unbelieving matter. Then she started to laugh and she walked over to the girl.

"Sueko!" cried Sango.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt her," said Yoshiko in an amused way. "But I think the sword just answered my question."

"What question?" snapped InuYasha.

"That this girl—Sueko, is it?—she's the 'Last One' that my father spoke about before he was killed," said Yoshiko, suddenly very serious.

"The last one…" muttered Sueko. "That's what my name means…"

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked the monk named Miroku. "You were asking whether or not Sueko was the girl that came out of the well or not. You were not asking anything else."

"The 'Last One'—the powerful being who protects the fifth shrine—and this girl are all the same thing. Or person."

"Which is it?" asked Sango, still holding onto her sword.

"I don't know," said Yoshiko.

"You mean I could, like, not be a person?" said Sueko, blinking.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," said Yoshiko with a slight smile.

"That's kind of creepy…" muttered Sueko.

The wind blew through the trees from the south. Instinctively Yoshiko checked the wind for any sign of demons. It seemed InuYasha was doing the same. Then suddenly all four warriors got into a fighting stance.

"Sueko, go hide with Shippo!" ordered Miroku.

"But… I want to fight!" cried Sueko.

"_Please_. This is not place for little girls," laughed Yoshiko.

"L-little? Oh, I've had about enough of you!" yelled Sueko.

"Are you trying to give away our position?" said Yoshiko smugly.

"Hey, I didn't _have_ to make InuYasha stop fighting you!" said Sueko, trying to cross her arms but since she had a sword in her hands it was kind of difficult so she gave up.

"And I don't _have_ to be here. I could leave if I wanted to."

"Why don't you? We can handle this demon ourselves," said InuYasha.

"So I can leave you with all the fun? Not likely," laughed Yoshiko.

"No fighting each other while we're trying to fight a demon, you two!" said Sango, retrieving her giant boomerang.

"I think she should just stand back and let me do the dirty work," laughed InuYasha.

"Here it comes!" said Yoshiko, drawing her own sword.

Bursting out of the trees a split second later was a large serpent demon. Two trees fell down, causing Sueko to move a bit closer to Sango. At the same instant Yoshiko and InuYasha smiled and jumped forward.

"It would be kind of nice if the girl could defeat the demon instead of InuYasha," said Sueko. "Go girl power!"

**_Clang!_** The scales of the serpent seemed just like metal, repelling both sword attacks. InuYasha laughed and jumped back.

"So you're going to be like that, are you?" He brought his sword over his head and brought it crashing down, wind sweeping forward in great force.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" cried Yoshiko, jumping up and into the tree.

The serpent disappeared under the attack. Yoshiko smiled as she recalled the name of Wind Scar. He was definitely a dog demon. Least ways, half dog demon. When the attack cleared up the snake lay motionless.

"All right, InuYasha!" cried Sueko, bringing her hands up in the air.

"Oh, please," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. It was at this very moment that the serpent started to get up.

"You've got to be kidding me!" cried InuYasha. "I killed it!"

"Really, you are an idiot," laughed Yoshiko, jumping out of the tree and walking in front of the demon. "Now step back before you get yourself hurt."

Her sword hung loosely at her side as the demon raised its head. Its yellow eyes searched for something and finally rested upon Sueko. Hissing, it started forward as Yoshiko brought her sword up in front of her.

"FIRE WAVE!" she cried, swinging it sideways. From the point she started swinging to where she stopped a wall of flame appeared before her. Then Yoshiko pointed her sword at the serpent and it fell upon the demon. It screeched out in agony as it withered and died. Turning away from her victim, Yoshiko sheathed her sword and started to walk away.

"Hey wait! You're leaving all ready?" said Sueko. "You can't go now!"

"I'm just going to get some water. I'm thirsty," stated Yoshiko.

"Well… fine…" said Sueko, rolling her eyes.

Smiling to herself Yoshiko stepped into the woods. Then she popped her head back out.

"You guys coming with?" she asked.

"I… guess…" muttered Sueko.

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"So _why_ are we dragging her around?" complained InuYasha the next day as the group headed towards the next village.

"Um… because she saved us?" said Sueko.

"I could have done that!" snapped InuYasha.

"I'm sure you could. And she's kind of nice too. In a really weird way…" added Sueko.

"I can hear, you know," muttered the tiger demon.

"All right," said Sueko. "Hey, what's your name, anyways?"

"Yoshiko," the tiger demon said.

"Okay. Yoshiko," said Sueko, trying it out. InuYasha rolled his eyes.

A sudden rustling in the bushes ended the trios' "conversation."

"Who's there?" cried Yoshiko, looking very alert.

"It's human…" muttered InuYasha.

"And you would know _how_?" asked Sueko.

"I can smell it," said InuYasha.

"Ah yes, doggy-boy, the great sniffer," scoffed Yoshiko.

"Hey! He's a _cute_ doggy-boy!" said Sueko suddenly, wrapping an arm around a startled InuYasha. Then, realizing what she was doing, quickly let go and stepped back, turning the same shade of red as the half demons' robes.

"Um…" said InuYasha.

"Whoever's there, show yourself!" called Miroku.

There was more rustling in the bushes, and then a peasant woman appeared before them, looking quite frightened for what seemed for no reason.

"What's wrong?" asked Sango gently.

"M-my brother… _attacked_… there's a d-demon in the v-village!" cried the woman, dropping to her knees in grief.

"It's all right. No need to be frightened," said Miroku sympathetically, going towards the woman and putting an arm around her. "We'll deal with the demon."

"Who says?" said InuYasha.

"You're so heartless!" said Yoshiko to InuYasha. "Come on guys, let's go."

"How do we know it's not a trap?" cried InuYasha.

"That's true…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"If it's a trap, we'll deal with it when it comes," said Yoshiko, who started walking towards the village.

"Fine by me if you get yourselves killed," said InuYasha, crossing his arms.

Everyone followed Yoshiko, and Sueko grabbed InuYasha by the arm and dragged him with her.

"What was that for?" cried InuYasha.

"Well, I suck when it comes to using my sword, you're actually good with yours, so I thought I'd bring you along," said Sueko simply, a smile spreading across her face.

"Feh."

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A few minutes later the group reached the village, but the sight was not at all what Sueko expected. The village was—well, there was no longer a village, since the whole thing was destroyed. A cluster of women huddled together, quite frightened of the thing that was standing in the middle of the now destroyed village. He—or, maybe, _it_—was a large man with wide shoulders and long black hair pulled up in a ponytail, but the weirdest thing about him was the four tentacle-like arms coming out of his sides.

"Well, ain't he pleasant!" commented Sueko cheerfully.

"I've seen uglier," said InuYasha.

The man—who Sueko guessed was a demon of some sort—noticed Sueko and the others and grinned. "You have made my life _so _much easier."

"How does that make sense?" asked Sueko.

"He's a demon. He doesn't have to make sense!" cried InuYasha, unsheathing his Tetsusaiga. Yoshiko did the same with her sword.

"You want to play, don't you?" laughed the demon… man… thing. "Fine by me!" He held his right hand out, and all of a sudden this black energy came out of it, and the dead bodies lying around them just stood up.

"Oh great. Zombies! Just what we need!" complained Sueko, crossing her arms.

"He's a necromancy!" breathed Yoshiko in amazement.

"You think?" cried Sango and Miroku.

"Um… guys, what do we do _now_?" asked Shippo, backing into Sueko.

"We fight, you idiot!" cried InuYasha, cutting one of the "zombies" heads off with his sword.

"Shippo! Sueko! Go back into the forest!" cried Miroku, holding a zombie off with his staff.

"Hell no!" cried Sueko, trying to unsheathe her sword. But it didn't want to come out. Yoshiko sighed and grabbed the hilt of the sword, yanking it out of the scabbard.

"Thanks…" mumbled Sueko.

"It's too dangerous! You can't even use a sword properly!" cried InuYasha.

"Can to!" said Sueko, gripping her sword and trying to cut a zombie's arm off. It just barely grazed his arm, cutting it.

"Besides, practice makes perfect!" said Yoshiko. InuYasha glared at her.

The demon-man-thing glanced at Sueko, who was swinging her sword blindly at a zombie trying to attack her, and smirked. One of his large tentacles reached out and grabbed Sueko around the waist.

"Hey!" cried Sueko, trying to hit the tentacle with her sword. But of course she wasn't doing so well at it, so it just barely grazed the surface.

"Just what I was looking for," said the demon.

"What? Me?" blinked Sueko.

"Leave her out of this!" cried Sango, throwing her giant boomerang at the demon. The boomerang just bounced off the tentacle, not doing any damage at all.

"She's a big girl! If the demon wants to fight her, then let her fight him!" cried Yoshiko.

"Are you nuts?" cried InuYasha.

"Well, the girl needs practice!"

"So you're just going to let herself get killed?"

"Enough!" cried Miroku, hitting a zombie aside the head with his staff.

"Now would be a good time to have that Wind Tunnel!" commented Shippo. Sueko was surprised Shippo was still there. "FOX FIRE!" cried Shippo suddenly, throwing little blue flames at the demon.

The demon laughed. "You think that will stop me?"

"Maybe this will!" cried InuYasha, cutting one of the tentacles that were just waving about with his sword. It got cut right in half.

"How dare you!" said the demon.

"Feh!" said InuYasha, punching a zombie that was trying to get him from behind. "You're just a load of talk!"

"So what if I am? I have powers too," said the demon.

"Not very good ones," said InuYasha as another zombie tried to get him.

"They just keep coming!" said Sango, hitting one with her boomerang.

"What about me?!" cried Sueko.

"Get yourself down!" said Yoshiko.

"It's kind of hard to do that when your damn arms are pinned to your sides!" cried Sueko.

"I'm not the one that's stuck. You are."

"That's nice. MAYBE YOU COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!"

"But that would be too easy," said Yoshiko.

"InuYasha, can you kill her for me?"

"Make up your mind. You want her dead or not?" cried InuYasha, who had stopped using his sword against the zombies and decided to use his fists.

Sueko just scowled, struggling against the tentacle.

"Don't worry. I won't be killing you or anything," teased the demon-thing.

"All right," said Sueko. "THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH ME?!"

"What a feisty little girl," said the demon.

"I'm not little!"

"Yes, yes! Well, I can't exactly go killing you when I need you alive."

"So you'll just be taking pleasure in torturing me instead?!"

"Not quite. I need you alive in order to get the stones."

"Stones…" said Sueko thoughtfully. "Oh. Well, too bad, because I won't be helping you!"

"I can always make you," said the demon, grinning. "Or just use your sword."

"Huh?" said Sueko, cocking her head to the side.

"Your sword! Don't you know your sword senses the stones?" cried the demon in disbelief.

"Um… I guess…" muttered Sueko.

"It glows blue when there's a stone around," explained the demon hastily. "So I'd be able to use you to collect the stones!"

"And you want these stones _why_?" asked Sueko.

"So I can get into the shrine and become more powerful!"

"I thought you already were powerful," said Sueko. "At least, I thought _you thought_ you were powerful."

"You can never have enough power," said the demon.

"All right, good for you. Well, you can have fun in your own little world of powerfulness, but _I_ won't be part of it!" said Sueko stubbornly.

"Shut up, silly girl!" cried the demon, whacking Sueko on the head with another one of his tentacles. "There's no way to escape me!"

"Oh…" Sueko's head was pounding and her eyesight slightly blurred as she swayed back and forth, suddenly feeling dizzy from the blow to the head.

"You demons are all the same!" cried InuYasha from down below. "All you ever want is to be _stronger_, and to have more _power_. Well, no one gets what they want, and I certainly won't let _you_ get what you want!" And with that, InuYasha cried, "WIND SCAR!" as a swirl of wind surrounded his sword and he was able to cut the tentacle keeping Sueko trapped off the demon.

"You think you can defeat me that easily?!" roared the demon.

"Yeah, pretty much," said InuYasha.

"I could easily just kill the girl and take the sword instead!" cried the demon. Another tentacle went toward Sueko. Yet slightly dizzy, Sueko still managed to stumble away and the tentacle, instead of cutting her in half, just scrapped her stomach area. It was still deep enough that Sueko fell down, not able to stand while in pain.

"FIRE WAVE!!!" cried Yoshiko, swinging her sword to create the wall of flame, which she directed at the demon. The demons screams filled the air as he burned to death.

"Sueko!" cried Shippo, running toward her "lifeless" body.

"I'm all right," said Sueko quietly, smiling shakily at everyone hovering around her.

"No you aren't! You're bleeding to death!" cried InuYasha.

"I'll deal with her," said Sango, setting down her boomerang. "How about you three go over there or something," she added, shooting a meaningful look to Miroku, Shippo and InuYasha.

"Feh," muttered InuYasha, walking away towards the trees. Miroku and Shippo followed, Miroku sighing slightly.

"Will she be okay?" asked Yoshiko, who looked as though she didn't care whether or not Sueko lived, but it was evident in her tone of voice that she did.

"She just got badly cut right along here," said Sango, pointing to Sueko's gut wound.

"I'm right here, you know," muttered Sueko.

"You just need to rest, okay?" said Sango, who started taking off Sueko's shirt to bandage the wound.

"It's not that bad…" mumbled Sueko.

"It will be if I don't tend to it," said Sango. Then she gave a small smile. "You did pretty good though, considering it was your first real battle."

"No I didn't. I sucked! Everyone else actually did something. Even Shippo. I'm just useless," mumbled Sueko.

"That's not true! You did what was only expected of you," said Sango.

"Practice makes perfect," chimed Yoshiko.

"Yeah… sure…" muttered Sueko.

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It was still dark outside when Yoshiko sat up from her mat and walked out of the hut with her sword. Before closing the flap of the hut completely she took one last look at the sleeping form of Sueko. Even for her wound she was sleeping peacefully.

"She's such a stupid little girl," muttered Yoshiko proudly.

Taking a deep breath outside she started to decide whether to go deep in the forest or by the lake. Suddenly a small noise caught her attention and Yoshiko swung around, unsheathing her sword. Stepping out of the hut was none other than Sueko, fully dressed and holding her sword.

"Where are you going?" whispered Sueko.

"Why aren't you resting?" snapped Yoshiko. Then she smiled. "I guess you could come train with me if you wanted to."

"Really?" said Sueko excitedly. "You would do that for me?"

"Yeah, why not? It's been a while since I've had somebody to train with. It'll make for nice change. Besides, you can only get better with practice," laughed Yoshiko. "So, in the forest or by the lake?"

"The forest!" said Sueko excitedly.

"All right. But don't exert yourself too much. We don't need your wound to reopen," said Yoshiko sternly.

Sueko nodded and followed after Yoshiko. She tried to walk slower than usual so the poor girl wasn't running to keep up but every once and a while she would have to stop so Sueko could catch up. But she didn't complain and they walked into the forest quite a ways in complete silence. Just like every other day in Yoshiko's life.

"How about here?" she said suddenly, stopping in a place that looked like any other spot in the forest they had walked through.

"What's so special about here?" said Sueko, cocking her head to the side.

"It's far enough from the others that they won't find us and close enough that we'll be able to find them again," said Yoshiko. "But I wouldn't try coming out into the forest alone. You can get lost easily."

"I know I can. But how come you don't?" asked Sueko, leaning against a tree to rest a little.

"Have you ever seen a cat get lost?" smiled Yoshiko.

Then suddenly she pulled out a dagger and stabbed it in a tree. Sueko's eyes went wider than usual and suddenly noticed her sword was starting to glow blue.

"You have one of the stones!" cried Sueko.

"What?" said Yoshiko, turning to her. "What rubbish are you spouting now?"

"You took out that dagger and my sword started to glow. The demon that destroyed the village… he said that my sword glows whenever one of the stones is around," said Sueko. "So… InuYasha should have killed you! And you're trying to kill me, aren't you!?"

Yoshiko just stared at Sueko for a while. During this moment of silence the sun started to rise, filling the dark forest with such colors as pink and orange. It almost seemed like it was on fire. Sueko stood up straight and drew her sword.

"Well, you can try and kill me but… but… but I've got a sword!" she cried.

A smile crossed Yoshiko's face and she started to laugh. She laughed so hard she had to prop herself against a tree to stop from falling down. Then just be even safer she sat down. This was definitely not what Sueko had expected.

"Why would I want to kill you?" laughed Yoshiko. "If I wanted you dead I would have done it earlier. And could have."

"How am I supposed to know how an evil mind works…" glared Sueko.

"Look, evil minds aren't normally smart unless they've been at this thing for a very long time. I'm only 19 and haven't that long of time to become smart. Plus my family isn't made out all that smart of demons anyways," said Yoshiko, still smiling. "You heard that necromancy, he told us his plan before doing anything about it. And he's probably one of the smartest low level demons out there."

"Well, you could be older than you look. Demons do that! InuYasha is older than 50 and he only looks 16!" said Sueko defiantly.

"You are stubborn!" laughed Yoshiko. "Look, I'm just out here to train. I do it every morning. I didn't know I had one of the stones."

"Well, you do!" said Sueko stubbornly. "My sword says so."

"I use my dagger to warn me if any demons are coming. It can almost sense a demon's aura when it comes close. I never knew _why_ it did it just that it _could._"

"Maybe the stone's inside of it! We'll have to break it open!" said Sueko, walking over to the dagger and grabbing the hilt. Yoshiko jumped to her feet but then smiled as the girl tried but failed to pull the dagger out. "Sheesh! How deep did you put this thing?"

"Deep enough I guess," laughed Yoshiko. "Now how about, before you use up all your energy, we train?"

"But… oh fine!" said Sueko.

"So you can put that away," said Yoshiko, nodding at Sueko's sword.

"How am I supposed to train without a sword?"

Yoshiko bent down and picked up two sticks about the same size. She tossed one at Sueko, who fumbled with it.

"We'll practice with these," smirked Yoshiko.

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"InuYasha? Have you seen Sueko anywhere?" asked Sango.

"Nah. The girl must have ran away because she felt so bad," shrugged InuYasha.

"Yoshiko is gone too. We should probably go looking for Sueko," said Miroku.

"It's almost lunch time anyways!" said Shippo, shielding his eyes against the sun as he looked up.

"You're point is?" growled InuYasha.

"Sueko normally lets me play Pokey-man," shrugged Shippo.

Suddenly InuYasha hit Shippo over the head leaving a large bump.

"You two are so childish," sighed Miroku, hitting InuYasha on the head with his staff.

"And you're different?" muttered Sango, grabbing her boomerang and starting off toward the forest.

She had hardly stepped toward it when stumbling out of it came an exhausted Sueko. Sango dropped her boomerang and grabbed a hold of the girl's arm to steady her. The relief was evident across Sango's face. InuYasha rolled his eyes but in the next minute was drawing his sword when he saw Yoshiko advancing out after Sueko.

"Not much of a welcoming comity, are you?" said Yoshiko, blinking in surprise.

"Where did you take Sueko?" said Miroku threateningly.

"We just went out for a walk," said Sueko, not looking at InuYasha. "And I'm going to go take a nap. See yah." And as suddenly as she had appeared Sueko left again, staggering towards the hut.

"What did you do with her?!" growled InuYasha, striding up to Yoshiko, glaring.

"All we did was practice. That's all!" said Yoshiko, holding her hands up in defense.

"Practiced what, exactly?" asked Sango.

"Sword fighting!" said Yoshiko as if this was obvious. "Now, if you excuse me, _I'm_ going to have lunch." Yoshiko followed Sueko's path to the hut, making the flap sway slightly.

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It didn't take that long for Sueko to figure out what was wrong with her (mince the gut wound, of course). She had watched and read enough about it to figure out what it was. It was the only explanation for the weird way she felt… the way she felt around _him_. What Sueko wanted to know was why the one guy she had to have a crush on has to have a dead girlfriend. Like, really! Let's go making life harder by having to fight demons _and_ be in love with a half demon that'd never like her back!

'Luckily all it is is just some silly crush that I'll get over with in a month or two. _Hopefully_,' mused Sueko one night as she attempted to fall asleep. The problem was that the way she wanted to sleep was too painful—it was rather difficult to sleep on your side with a gut wound, after all—so she was forced to lie on her back, which was never a comfortable position. It helped that the only view she had was the ceiling of a hut, which was probably only made of straw or very thin wood. Sueko couldn't figure out which… it wasn't like she was born in the Feudal Era or anything, she was just visiting.

Sueko just couldn't sleep. She sat up, leaning against the wall, and rummaged quietly through her book bag lying nearby. Maybe she could just read for a little while and then try to fall asleep again.

She opened a book only to discover there wasn't enough light in the hut to read by. Sighing, Sueko shoved the book back in and pulled out her GameBoy, only to discover ten minutes later that the batteries were too low to play—at least she had already won her _Pokèmon_ game so many times it didn't matter whether or not she saved it.

'Now what is there to do?' thought Sueko, dropping the Game Boy in her bag and hugging her knees close while ignoring the pain in her stomach from her injury. Sueko looked up and her eyes widened as they laid sight on a sleeping InuYasha. 'He looks so peaceful…

'Ugh! InuYasha, do me a favor and GET OUT OF MY HEAD!' thought Sueko, closing her eyes and leaning her head on the wall in frustration. 'I can't wait for a month to go by. Maybe then I'll get a grip and move on from my stupid crush, but I still have to wait a whole month! A whole four weeks! A whole thirty days!' Sighing, Sueko laid back down on her mat, closing her eyes and attempted to fall asleep again. But a random thought struck her that made her eyes open wide again.

'Kagome died a whole month ago—a whole four weeks ago—a whole thirty days ago…'

Sueko sighed. She wished Kagome wasn't dead. If she were still alive, InuYasha would be happy. Though the two of them would be together again… InuYasha would still be happy… that's all that mattered to Sueko at the moment… that and for her to get better at fighting. Her sword skills—well, they down right _sucked_!


	5. Yoshiko Disappears and Sueko Goes Back H...

**AUTHORS NOTES:  
**Okay, thanks again, **BlackTearsOfDarkness**, for replying. Now, you other people, REPLY!!! Please? I'll give you chocolate! Come on, do a good deed! Now, this is a rather long chapter but that's supposed to be a good thing, right? So I split it into two parts. Hope you don't mind… too much.

**DISCLAIMER  
**We _still_ don't own InuYasha. But, however, I own Hamasaki Keitaro (though I took the name Keitaro from _Love Hina_…I needed a guy name, okay?) and Tamika. But we don't own anything else, sorry, besides that and Sueko, Yoshiko, and the plot.

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**Chapter Five: Yoshiko Disappears and Sueko Goes Back Home, Part One**

A sort of routine was figured out over the next few days. Early in the morning Yoshiko and Sueko would get up and disappear. Sometimes they would come back when the others were just waking up, sometimes at noon. Then they would continue their journey looking for some of the shrine stones. Finally, around ten at night they would stop and rest.

Then one day Yoshiko didn't get up early. Since Sueko kind of liked sleeping in she didn't care that they missed one day of training. In the morning the gang started off early though all of them were wondering what had suddenly changed Yoshiko's schedule. When the sun started to go down Yoshiko stopped.

"I'm going to go into the woods for a couple of hours. I shall be back early in the morning," stated Yoshiko.

"I'll go with you!" cried Sueko.

Yoshiko hesitated. The girl seemed so eager and also seemed to know that Yoshiko was training. But for once Yoshiko wanted to be alone. She still wasn't use to traveling with other people, especially not mortal humans.

"No, not this time, Sueko," said Yoshiko, turning around and disappearing into the woods.

InuYasha turned toward the sun, which had just set behind the mountains. Sango and Miroku sighed, starting to get a fire going. Sueko seemed disappointed but was doing a pretty good job in hiding it. Her wounds were completely healed but every so often she got extremely tired. Sometimes it annoyed InuYasha, other times he just didn't really care.

In the woods Yoshiko had found a nice area to stop and train. She pulled out her dagger and placed it in a tree as she normally did. Then she pulled out her sword and practiced a few basic moves. As she practiced she closed her eyes and tried to imagine the demon that had killed her father and most likely also killed her brother. But as always no image came to mind which only frustrated her more.

Her strikes at the air became more furious and she wished that she had allowed Sueko to come along. Even InuYasha's company would be better than that of no company at all. The quiet left too much time for thought. Where a week ago she would have preferred quiet over company she now found a companion better.

Yoshiko's frustration over having no leads on her brother's death rose to the surface. She cried out and swung her sword out, lodging it in a tree. She opened her eyes and looked up. It was night now and the half moon was out. The women sighed and sat down against a tree.

Despite what the gang believed, she was not a demon. Least ways, not a full one. Her mother had been demon but her father…

"That's what I thought," came a familiar voice. "You're a half-demon, aren't you?"

Out of the trees came striding InuYasha, his arms crossed as usual. He wasn't looking straight at Yoshiko but at the moon instead.

'All half demon's have a period of weakness. But why does mine have to be so infuriating!?' thought Yoshiko.

"So, why don't you want any of us to know?" asked InuYasha, sitting down opposite of Yoshiko.

"The same reason any half-demon would hide it," whispered Yoshiko.

When she became human on the half moon her hair became black, a normal color. Her eyes also became brown. But it wasn't that she became mortal that frustrated her, it was the fact that she became mortal on the half moon.

"Feh."

"You've obviously lived a life in a mortal village, InuYasha," muttered Yoshiko.

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped InuYasha.

"It means that you have been teased and pushed around when you were young so much that you left. But after that you wouldn't dare let anybody get near you. Am I right, InuYasha?" asked Yoshiko.

InuYasha said nothing but frowned and looked away. His eyes fell on her dagger in the tree and he raised an eyebrow.

"What's that for?"

"While I'm training I focus too much on my sword and not on what's going on around me. That warns me if a demon is coming," answered Yoshiko.

"Why do you train?" asked InuYasha. "I mean, you're a half-demon so you're definitely strong enough to use a sword."

"Just because you can wield a sword does not mean you know how to. And a person that doesn't have the skills to use a sword can not be respected by their sword," replied Yoshiko. "At least… that's what my father use to say."

"And your father was…" started InuYasha.

"Human."

InuYasha just shook his head and closed his eyes. Suddenly Yoshiko got an idea. She stood up and grabbed two sticks about the same size.

"What are you doing?" asked InuYasha, glancing at her over his shoulder.

"You're going to train with me," replied Yoshiko, throwing a stick at him, which he caught.

"No," responded InuYasha, throwing the stick back. "It wouldn't be a fair fight. You're mortal."

Yoshiko's eyes narrowed and she threw the stick back at him.

"Just because I am mortal does not mean I am weak. I train harder and more often on the day of the half moon so do not insult me," hissed Yoshiko. "Now stand up and fight!"

"Don't bite my head off. I know what it's like to be human as well and it sucks! I just don't want you to get hurt and regret it," he said, shrugging.

This time Yoshiko had no patience. She lashed out with her stick, catching InuYasha off guard. Her attack caught him in the neck, but she pause an inch away from the skin.

"Do not think that I am weak," muttered Yoshiko.

InuYasha couldn't get this girl. He hit away the stick and she jumped back, leaving room between the two. Though she was angry you could still tell that she was using her head and judging every attack she could make and InuYasha could make.

"You must work on your defense," said Yoshiko. "You hold your stick as if you're about to run me through. Hold it up so it protects you."

"I don't need your advice!" spat InuYasha.

"If you expect to protect Sueko you must first be able to protect yourself," replied Yoshiko.

This, again, caught InuYasha off guard. He dropped the end of his stick, leaving him wide open for another attack. Yoshiko ran forward, aiming a sideways blow at his chest. He lifted his stick to hit her arm, but she spun out of the way and stopped with her stick just an inch away from her target.

"Again, InuYasha, your defense is poor," explained Yoshiko. "And do not let anything your enemy says get to you!"

With that she dropped to the ground and tripped InuYasha, making him fall on his back. He cried out and started to get up but Yoshiko held him down with her foot.

"How do you expect to keep Sueko alive if you can't even fight a simple mortal with a stick!?" shouted Yoshiko. "You are worthless! There is no way you could have defeated Naraku!"

This caused InuYasha to become angry and struck out with his stick. Yoshiko blocked it and stepped back in one fluid motion. InuYasha jumped to his feet and tried another attack, one that Yoshiko dodged easily.

"You swing your stick more poorly than Sueko does. If you're not careful, she'll be protecting you," said Yoshiko.

InuYasha acted like he didn't hear her and tried yet again to hit Yoshiko. She had quite enough and, being mortal, was starting to tire. So, to end this pointless battle, she hit InuYasha in the stomach with her stick, and then kicked him in the back of his knee.

"You're going have to work on your sword methods," said Yoshiko, dropping the stick. She went over to her sword and pulled it, then sheathed it. She did the same for her dagger. "And that temper could be worked on as well. Losing your head over the loss of one mortal girl can get you killed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped InuYasha.

"Don't let it happen again," said Yoshiko.

"That's not an answer!" cried InuYasha.

"You obviously got over Kikyo, InuYasha, so you can get over Kagome as well. But if you do not try and get over it you will get yourself killed," stated Yoshiko. "Now if you excuse me there are things I would like to do. I shall join you again in three days."

"Excuse me?" said InuYasha.

"Good bye," said Yoshiko, turning to the woods and walking into the trees.

InuYasha cried out in frustration and broke the stick against a tree. For another hour he sat there in the forest contemplating what Yoshiko had said. Finally he decided to just forget and go back to the others. When he arrived they had just finished cooking some fish.

"Ah, InuYasha, you're back," said Miroku.

"Where's Yoshiko?" asked Sueko, not looking at him.

"Feh."

"That's not an answer," pointed out Sango.

"Well, that half-demon wouldn't give me an answer either!" snapped InuYasha.

"H-half-demon?" stammered Shippo.

"Yeah, Shippo. I said half-demon," said InuYasha.

"I didn't know that!" said Sueko.

"It doesn't matter. She left anyways," muttered InuYasha.

"What!?" cried Sueko. "What did you do to her?"

"Uh…" said InuYasha, blinking. "I didn't do anything to her… Why do you always blame me!?"

"Because you do have a way of saying the wrong things to women, InuYasha," explained Miroku.

"Look who's talking," muttered Sango, glaring at the monk.

"Look, I didn't do anything. I went to see what she was doing and then she got mad at me and started blaming me for Kagome's…" He stopped. "It's nothing."

He turned over onto his side, his back to his friends.

"Why would she blame you for her death?" muttered Sueko.

"Because apparently I don't know how to use a sword!" said InuYasha, in a high pitched voice. "I can't expect to protect anybody because I can't even protect myself!"

"She's got a point," muttered Sango.

"Oh! So now you're agreeing with her!" cried InuYasha, sitting back up.

"I'm not saying she had a right blaming you for anybody's death but you could work a bit on your sword skills. Maybe then you wouldn't be getting injured so often," explained Sango.

"What about Yoshiko!?" cried Sueko.

"Feh."

Sueko's response to this was to hit him over the head. For a minute everybody had thought InuYasha was going to do nothing about it. Then he looked up and glared at her.

"Don't. Do. That. Again," he growled.

"Humph!" said Sueko, hitting him again.

"Uh oh!" said Shippo, hiding behind Sango.

"I think that's quite enough you two!" said Miroku. "Yoshiko is a grown woman and she can take care of herself. But InuYasha, you could be a bit kinder toward her and Sueko."

"Yeah, right," muttered InuYasha. "I think Yoshiko should be kinder to me!"

"It's always about you, isn't it," muttered Sueko, taking a bite off of her fish since it had finally cooled down.

"How about we just all be kinder to each other?" suggested Sango.

As if in answer both Sueko and InuYasha said "Humph!", crossed their arms and turned away from each other. Miroku shook his head sadly.

"I'm kind of a bit worried about Yoshiko though. The night only started and it is the night where she becomes mortal," said Shippo.

"She can take care of herself. She trains twice as hard on the half moon anyways," said Sueko. "Though, until now, I didn't get why this day was so special."

"Well now you know," muttered InuYasha.

"You know, you're a half-demon too!" said Sueko.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"What day do you become human?" asked Sueko.

"None of your business," muttered InuYasha.

"He becomes human on the new moon!" said Shippo.

This earned him a hit on the head from InuYasha.

"Can we just all stop fighting for this night only!?" cried Sango.

"No!" cried Shippo, InuYasha and Sueko.

"I give up…" sighed Sango.

"You know, I've been thinking…" said Miroku quite suddenly.

"Huh," said Sango.

"Well, all of these demons are going to be attacking us on account of the fact that Sueko is the protector of the Spirit Shrine," said Miroku slowly. "Maybe if she'd just lay low for a little while they'll think she's left and not bother us."

"Yeah right," muttered InuYasha.

"That idea could work," agreed Sango. "But where could Sueko go?"

"I was thinking she could go back to her own time for a while," suggested Miroku.

"So now you're sending me off back home? You don't like me?" teased Sueko, mocking hurt and sadness.

"Just for a little while," shrugged Miroku.

"Humph! You never liked me!" cried Sueko, crossing her arms.

"I like you!" cried Miroku.

"I don't see you grabbing my—whatever!" teased Sueko.

"And you are complaining _why_?" muttered Sango.

Miroku laughed. "Well one, you seem a bit _too_ young for me—"

"That's never stopped you before," muttered Sango.

"…And besides, you and InuYasha seem perfect for each other," continued Miroku as if there was no interruption at all. "I can't compete with that!"

"W-what?" cried Sueko. This was _not_ what she was expecting.

"Me… and her…" stuttered InuYasha, looking extremely confused.

"I think I'll just go back home…" mumbled Sueko, turning extremely red as she went over to her book bag.

"I didn't mean _now_…" said Miroku.

"Whatever," said Sueko, sitting back down. She'd probably get lost on the way to the well anyways. "I'm just going to go to bed. 'Night."

"You don't have to go back home if you don't want to," said Sango. "It was just a suggestion."

"No, no, I'm fine with it," muttered Sueko, laying down on her mat and closing her eyes.

So it was decided. The next day Sueko said farewell to everyone, grabbed her book bag, and headed towards the Bone Eaters well (with InuYasha since she didn't know the way so would probably walk around in circles for days before running across it, and the fact that she hadn't yet gotten the hang of her sword). The group still seemed a bit uneasy about her going thinking that she didn't really want to go at all, but Sueko reassured them that she was fine with it. She had one thought in mind:

'Anything to get away from InuYasha.'

Sueko was hoping that a week-or-so break from Feudal Japan would help get rid of her crush on InuYasha. Because there was no point in daydreaming about a guy she'd never get. Maybe she could fall in love with a boy from her new school who was normal and not getting over the death of his girlfriend.

On second thought, she'd never be back home so she'd never see this guy she'd be in love with.

'How about I just _not_ fall in love at all! I like that idea.'

"Sueko?"

"Hmm," said Sueko distractedly, looking at InuYasha with a "What now?!" expression on her face.

"Um… we're here," said InuYasha.

"Oh," said Sueko quietly, looking at the well before her.

"If you don't want to…" started InuYasha, but Sueko interrupted him.

"For the last time… YES, I'M SURE!"

"Just checking," said InuYasha, sheepishly holding up his hands to show he was innocent.

"Come get me if you need me," said Sueko. The plan was for her to stay in modern day for a week, and then she'd go back. After that they'd figure out whether or not she should stay longer or not.

"Yeah, I know," said InuYasha crankily.

"Well…" said Sueko, looking down the long, dark, dank, wide, deep well. Sueko couldn't see the bottom of the thing, and that wasn't reassuring her at all. "It's awfully deep…" she said nervously.

InuYasha sighed. "Don't tell me you're _scared_!"

"And what would you do if I said yes?"

"Shove you down the well myself," said InuYasha, crossing his arms impatiently. "I don't have all day, you know."

Sueko glared at him and, grabbing the sides of the well, lowered herself down and let go. Falling through the—_time portal thingy?_—Sueko thought, 'How could I possibly have a crush on a guy like _this_?!'

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Her second day of school. It was already October, and this was her second day of school. How odd…

Sueko's mother had made the excuse of Sueko getting sick for the month she was running around with InuYasha and the gain in Feudal Japan, but Sueko figured her mother would have to come up with better excuses then _that_ for later on. But until they thought of a better excuse, pretending to be over ammonia was good enough for now for Sueko.

She had walked no more then five steps upon entering her school building when someone walked right up to her and went, _"Where the hell have you been?!"_

"Tamika? Is that _you_?" cried Sueko, backing up. With the silky-long black hair and chocolate brown eyes, it turned out to be Tamika, the girl she had sat with at lunch on her first day of school.

"Yes. Now where have you been?!" cried Tamika. "People were saying you were deadly sick in the hospital…"

'Why does she care so much?!' thought Sueko, but to Tamika she laughed shakily and went, "No, I just had pneumonia, that's all. Nothing to worry about!"

"_Pneumonia?!_ You're telling me not to worry about the fact you had _pneumonia_?!"

"Tamika, don't you think you're being a bit over dramatic?" asked Sueko sweetly. "I'm _fine_! I'm standing here and breathing, aren't I?"

Tamika paused for a moment, one eyebrow raised as she analyzed Sueko's health. But a minute later she grinned a toothy smile (man, were her teeth _perfect_) and said, "Okay, great! Come with me!" And with that, Tamika grabbed Sueko by the wrist and dragged her through the crowed hallways of the school.

"Where are we going?" asked Sueko, jogging to keep up with Tamika's large steps.

"I got to show you something, silly!" said Tamika cheerfully, yelling, "MOVE!!!" at everyone in her way (and, with no questions or complaints, they moved).

Sueko sighed and rolled her eyes, waiting for Tamika to stop dragging her around and to show her what she wanted to show already. But just as she thought this, Tamika abruptly stopped, making Sueko nearly trip to stop too.

It turned out Tamika wanted to show Sueko a person, not a thing or place like she assumed. This _someone_ appeared to be muttering insults at his locker as he tried again and again to put in the right combination to the lock. He was rather handsome looking, with messy black hair and chocolate brown eyes—for some reason he looked familiar to Sueko, but she had never seen this guy before.

Tamika coughed loudly, and the boy suddenly jumped up and spun around. He growled, "Oh, it's _you_."

"Ah, yes, spread the love," scowled Tamika, rolling her eyes.

"Who's she?" the boy asked, nodding his head at Sueko. At this, Sueko turned a bit pink.

Tamika brightened up. "Sueko, meet Hamasaki Keitaro! Keitaro, meet Kimochi Sueko!"

"Hamasaki…" muttered Sueko. Where had she heard that name before?

"He's my twin brother!" announced Tamika proudly, grinning a wide smile (again, showing off her perfect teeth) and putting an arm around Keitaro. He growled at this and rolled his eyes. Brushing the arm off his shoulders, he smiled shyly and held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Kimochi Sueko."

"Huh?" said Sueko. Then she noticed the hand. "Oh!" she cried, grabbing it and shaking it hastily, grinning at her own foolishness. "It's nice to meet you too, Keitaro. I didn't know Tamika had a brother."

"_Twin_ brother," Tamika corrected merrily.

"Yeah… okay," said Sueko.

By now the three were walking around the hallways and shifting through all the groups of people in the hallways (Keitaro gave up on his locker, apparently). Keitaro suddenly started shuffling through his book bag and, while pulling out a thick looking book out of it, Tamika slapped his hand.

"What was _that_ for?" cried Keitaro angrily.

"You are _not_ going to shove your nose into a book," scolded Tamika. "You are going to have a nice chat with me and Sueko—even if it kills you," she added, glaring at him.

"Humph," said Keitaro, crossing his arms.

There was a moment's silence in which Sueko tried to think of something to say. Eventually she settled for a lame, "So… what's new?"

"Well, you were gone for quite a long time, so it might take a while to say all of what you missed," said Tamika.

"I was only gone for three weeks!" cried Sueko.

"Three _very long_ weeks," said Tamika. "And I was worried about you! You owe me, girl!"

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Stop it, Tamika," laughed Keitaro. "You're confusing the poor girl!"

"I'm not confused!" snapped Sueko angrily, stopping in her tracks and standing face-to-face with the startled boy. "I just want to know why she cares so much!"

"Huh?" said Tamika, both at Sueko's sudden change of attitude and at what she had said.

"You said you were worried…" said Sueko, turning back to her original self.

"Erm… well, I was," said Tamika, shrugging.

Sueko still stood her ground, befuddlement showing all over her face.

"Look, I was just worried about you," said Tamika. "You're my friend, isn't that what I'm suppose to do? Care about you?"

"Friend…" muttered Sueko as though she had never heard of the word before.

"Yes. _Friend_. Did you hit your head too?" asked Tamika. She laughed. "Anyways, where were we?" she said as though continuing a conversation, starting to walk again. Keitaro followed, scratching his head in puzzlement.

Sueko paused before hurrying back to Tamika and Keitaro. 'I actually have a _friend_. A true friend, not some fake one…'

Wait… couldn't she call InuYasha and the others her friends too? They certainly seemed to care about her—they showed that on her last day in Feudal Japan as they fretted over "doing what you want to do, not what we _suggested_ you should do." And Yoshiko had to be her friend too, the number of times they had chatted and practiced sword fighting with sticks.

Thinking all this was starting to make her head spin.

"Hey, there!" cried Tamika, poking Sueko's nose repeatedly.

"Hi," said Sueko, shooing the finger away.

"You looked as though you were staring into space or something," said Tamika cheerfully. "You totally missed Keitaro's super-duper-ultra-important speech on last nights Biology homework!"

"_Okay_, Tamika," said Keitaro tiredly.

"Well, really Keitaro, who cares?"

"_Some_ people actually value an education, you know!"

"_Others_ value a _life_. Ever heard of that?!"

Sueko laughed. Today seemed like it'd be a very good day.


	6. Yoshiko Disappears and Sueko Goes Back H...

**AUTHORS NOTES:  
**Okay, part two of chapter five. Yeah. Whatever. I have nothing to say because I'm posting this at the same time…. Just please reply! Thank you.

**DISCLAIMER  
**Okay, we own Keitaro, Yoshiko, Sueko, Tamika, Akihiro and Akemi, and the very excellently written legend by Ravyn89, and also the plot. Everything else we don't. Got it? Good. Now read. Then reply. Cause you love me, I guess.  
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**Chapter Five: Yoshiko Disappears and Sueko Goes Back Home, Part Two**

Three days passed with nothing astounding happening. Sueko got used to her new school rather quickly and had fun hanging out with Tamika and her twin brother, Keitaro. They had nothing in common but both shared the same good looks—they also seemed oblivious to their good looks but Sueko supposed that all good looking people weren't aware of how good looking they are.

Despite the fact that Sueko had been gone for about three weeks of school, she hadn't even started on all of her make-up work. Not only did Sueko not care about grades (she had moved so many times, she found no point to trying to catch up with everyone else and just gave up) but she didn't exactly have the greatest attention span ever when it came to school. It was so boring and there were other things to think about…

Like InuYasha. She thought being away from him would stop any further thought about him, but it just made it _worse_. Everything reminded her of him… either that or he'd just pop into her head when life got a little boring. But she frequently found herself being poked by Tamika, who got annoyed whenever Sueko went over to "dream world." After the twentieth time this happened, Tamika demanded to know what Sueko had been thinking of these past few days.

They were sitting at lunch. Keitaro had kept bugging Tamika about last night's math homework ("What did you get for number six?" "Why do you want to know?" "Well… I'm not sure I got it right…" "You are a math genius! How could you possibly get a question wrong?!" "Can I just check—" "NO!") when Sueko, growing bored of the bickering, let her eyes wander until they landed on a tree. There weren't that many trees in Tokyo, so it was odd to see one outside, but there was one, and it was rather large… just like that tree she had sat with InuYasha that one night…

"You're doing it again!" cried Tamika.

"What?" said Sueko distractedly.

"T—that staring-off-into-space thing you're always doing!" said Tamika impatiently. "Why must you do that all the time?!"

"Um…" said Sueko, not sure of how to answer.

"What are you thinking about that's so important?" asked Keitaro curiously through a mouthful of food.

"Excellent point, bro!" said Tamika excitedly, making Keitaro groan. "What _are_ you thinking about?"

"Um…"

"TELL ME ALREADY!!!" cried Tamika, making Sueko jump up in her seat.

Keitaro coughed. "Excuse my sister over here. She gets a bit overly excited about things…"

"I see," muttered Sueko. Tamika glared at her, so Sueko tried to think of something to say in response to the question. But she couldn't think of anything.

"_Well_?!"

"Um… a _guy_," said Sueko in defeat. She was never the best liar…

Tamika's eyes widened, making Sueko gulp. "A _guy_, eh? Who is he? Do I know him? Is he good looking? Where does he live? Does he go to this school?"

"Er…"

"Tamika, _breathe_!" cried Keitaro, pushing her back down to her seat (she had stood up during her excitement).

"Well?!" cried Tamika brightly, glaring at her brother.

"Um…" said Sueko finally. "I don't think you know him. He's… not from around here…"

"So he's from your old school or something?" asked Tamika.

"Not really…" 'Why couldn't I have just said YES?!'

"He's not? Where's he from, then?"

"Um…" How do you explain to someone that the guy you have a total crush on is from Japan in the 1500's?! "It's hard to explain," said Sueko lamely.

"How is it hard to explain where someone lives?!" asked Tamika.

"'Cause it's complicated?" said Sueko sheepishly.

"And…"

"There's more to in then just where he lives. It's more like… _when_." Sueko never got why she could never tell a lie, but it was really annoying at times. Especially now.

"Wait a second," said Keitaro quite suddenly, setting down his chop sticks. "Are you telling me this _guy_ doesn't live in the same _time frame_?!"

"Yeah… pretty much…" said Sueko, turning pink.

"But… but… that's just impossible… there's no way…"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it," said Tamika, waving a hand at Keitaro. "Are you saying you're in love with some old dude in a history book?"

"NO!!!" cried Sueko. "See, I feel into the well in my backyard and it took me back in time to 15th century Japan and… oh, you two think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"Yep," said Keitaro before being elbowed in the ribs by Tamika. "Stop that! You have pointy elbows, you know that?!"

"_I_ don't think you're crazy," said Tamika seriously. "You fell down a well?"

Sueko wished, more then anything, to just become invisible and run away from the lunch area, but even though things like demons may exist invisibility cloaks did not so Sueko was stuck there. So she just nodded.

"Okay… so it was a time portal or something that made you go back in time?" said Tamika curiously.

"That's impossible," said Keitaro.

"How do you know?" snapped Tamika.

"It's scientifically, not to mention physically and mentally, impossible for a being of any kind or sort to go back through the ages to a time before their own. It simply is not done," said Keitaro simply, crossing his arms superiorly.

"Let me repeat myself: how do you know?!" said Tamika.

"If we could go through time, we would have built a time machine ages ago! Even if you could travel through time, you couldn't do it by simply falling through a well!" argued Keitaro.

"Well, actually, apparently the well has like special powers or something—okay, they didn't say it did, but I think it does—and also, I'm like the only one who can go into the well and go through time because I'm apparently the protector of the Spirit Shrine, so… it's not _just_ a well," explained Sueko.

"You're the protector of _what_?" asked Keitaro.

"The Spirit Shrine," repeated Sueko, shrugging.

"And that would be…" continued Keitaro.

"Uh… I don't know. I don't even think Myoga really knew… or I'm just not remembering…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"Is Myoga the guy you like?" asked Tamika.

"Hell no! I'm not in love with a flea!" cried Sueko.

"A flea?!" said Keitaro, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, I think it's a demon flea," said Sueko. "It likes to show up to suck InuYasha's blood… he's a half dog demon…"

"Is InuYasha the guy you like?" Tamika tried again.

Sueko didn't need to say a word; after turning bright red Tamika cried, "Aha! What's he like? Is he nice?"

"Shut up, Tamika. Half _dog demon_?!" cried Keitaro.

Sueko sighed. This would be a _long_ lunch period.  
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The death of many people just goes by unnoticed… unwatched. Corpses of forgotten soldiers still strewn the fields of long ago wars. Ashes still clog the air of many  
villages from the bones of dead people. Wastelands stretch out where demons had been  
slain and where grass still refused to grow centuries later. Bodies of travelers  
went missing in the forest, remnants of their clothes found weeks later. Thus was  
the fate of her father.

Godric was far luckier. His remains were not only found, but also burned by people who mourned his loss then buried at the foot of an elder tree. A little remembrance shrine was erected. Women came to ask for a smooth childbirth. Children asked that no harm fall upon their village and that their friend or family member would get well soon. Men wished for a good battle and that everybody would come out of it  
alive.

Yoshiko came for other reasons. The young healer had been her little brother and had also become quite wise beside his years. This was because of his travels and the  
many people he had met. He had this gift to sort of pick up on wisdom others carried  
and take a small piece for him. But for all his wisdom he had been a silly little boy that had gotten himself killed.

Midnight was and always had been the hour for the half tiger demon to visit. She tried not to come too often less she become distracted…. Or attached. Besides just that the Earth Shrine stood not to far away from this placid village. Yoshiko sat the foot of the shrine playing with a flower and staring at the ground. It was the night after that of the half moon so she had regained her orange hair, green eyes, tiger ears, and black stripes. Night crept in from all sides, its silence deafening. To break it the half-demon decided to speak, as if her brother sat there in front of her.

"So… I guess there's nothing new with you. I met this InuYasha character that seems quite willing to kill me. But he's traveling with this strange, but kind, girl named Sueko. She's the 'Last One' Father always spoke to us about. The shrines started glowing upon her arrival to our world."

Thoughts of what might happen to Sueko once more demons started to attack crossed Yoshiko's mind and she shuddered involuntarily. If she were to lose the girl just like she had lost her family…

"I don't think I'm going to be able to keep my calm much longer, little brother. For once I want your advice but… you're not here. What am I to do!?" moaned Yoshiko, resting her head on her knees.

A small _boing_ caught her ears and she looked up and saw, sitting in the grass in front of her, old man Myoga the flea. Yoshiko raised her eyebrows in wonder and surprise. How could he possibly help? But the flea just stood there patiently, arms crossed and looking up at her.

"What is it, Myoga?" asked Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"Since you're this close to one of the shrines, why not check it out?" asked Myoga, gesturing toward the glow of the Earth Shrine in the distance.

Without wasting a second the half-demon got to her feet and strode purposefully toward the hill. She heard the flea mutter profanity as she left him behind and she sent a silent thank you to her brother. Why else would the flea have followed her if not because her brother had wanted to help her? It wasn't very often when something could convince her of fate. Soon the small shrine came into sight, built right into the hollow of a large tree. A faint barrier could be seen around the area and Yoshiko smirked.

"How do you expect to get through?" muttered Myoga, having caught up.

"Use you as a battering ram," hissed Yoshiko, sounding ironically like a cat. "Now, shut up!"

For a minute longer the women stood there, staring at the faint barrier between her and information. In fact her thoughts were really of how to get in there but what she was going to do once she did. But finally she got bored of standing out there having Myoga jabbering in her ear. So she took a step forward. And another one. Soon she was walking straight toward the shield with nothing but thoughts of finding out what these shrines were all about. Then she was at the edge, but she didn't pause. Not even when Myoga starting crying out in fear.

Without stopping Yoshiko stepped through the barrier and toward the shrine. No alarms went off and nobody rushed out to stop her. Myoga dropped off her shoulder in a dead faint as she continued into the shrine and looked around.

It was quite uninteresting. The shrine was cramped with no furniture except for a small table in the center. Light energy emanated from it but nothing quite strong enough to explain what was so special about it. As she wandered around the tight space she found her foot knocking against something solid. She bent down to pick up a book.

"This looks like father's…" muttered Yoshiko, opening it gingerly.

Sure enough on the first page was that of the story of the 'Last One.' It explained about an entity named Akemi with extraordinary powers that had fallen in love with a man, Akihiro, who was constantly going off to war. Akemi spoke to nobody of this love and refused to love anyone else. Eventually Akihiro realized he had love for Akemi as well but didn't want to lose her as he had lost everything else in his life. So he pushed her away only to have her come closer.

One day Akihiro left for another war, but not before Akemi begged him not to leave. She had had enough of him constantly leaving her but the only thing he would do was leave her a strangely colored stone. It was completely polished and oval. But colors such as pink, yellow, blue and green shone through the regular gray of the stone. This was not what she had in mind.

So the next day Akemi set out with the stone and her sword to find Akihiro. Sooner or later she found out that the stone had great powers that she could tap into, so there was no need for her to bring food or water. The pebble could create it for her. Akemi did not linger in villages or, for that matter, go through any. She staid off the path completely, following her senses to find the one she loved.

But the exertion left her tired and drained after about two weeks of searching. About this time she stumbled across a small hut in a valley that nobody had ever heard of. She spent the night there and in the morning she awoke to find a man standing over her. It was not the man she loved but another, stranger and darker one. He emanated a dark aura that caused it difficult for Akemi to breathe. In an attempt to escape she called on the power of the four elements and buried the hut underneath dirt carried on the wind, hardened by water and hit the man with fire that also allowed her to come out of the hut.

In her escape, she left the stone behind and was drained of energy. There was still a chance that the dark man could escape though, so she ran home as fast as she could. When Akemi arrived five days later she found it utterly destroyed, the only sign that it had ever been there being a small wisp of smoke. Then she spotted the dark man again and he surrounded her with the stones of the elements. To the north was a green stone of earth, to the east a yellow one for wind, to the sound a red one for fire and to the west a blue one for water. It created a sort of barrier around her.

The dark man spoke words in some strange, cruel language and the energy started to leave Akemi. She screamed as her powers were ripped from her body and flooded upwards. It was then that Akihiro arrived and tried to defeat the dark man. But he was worn and tired. Not to mention the dark man held powers that couldn't be imagined. He was, in fact, a demon.

Once she figured this out Akemi used the last amount of her strength to scatter the stones of the elements to different parts of the island, each suddenly in four pieces. In the process she regained enough strength to send the demon to hell but its cost was her life. Akihiro tried to bring Akemi back by every means possible, by even confessing his love but she was too far gone. Her spirit headed off in search of the stone of many colors leaving her body completely and never knowing the love Akihiro had given her. In fact the spirit was supposed to still wander, searching for Akihiro to confess its love.

The name 'Last One' came from many sources. It could have been the last one to see the village that Akemi had lived in which had been most prosperous and full of great magic. Also it came from being the person who had last seen the many colored stone. Quite possibly the name could be for being the last spirit, and only spirit, to remain on earth, not moving on.

Yoshiko sighed. It went on to explain how the spirit would later coincide in another body, searching physically for the man she loved. If this were true then what form had Akihiro taken in this lifetime? Or Sueko's? Whoever it was that Sueko found herself in love with Yoshiko would have to do everything she could to make it so the two would get together instead of going to such extremes to have the girl lose all her powers. Because Sueko's name meant 'Last One,' so there had to be a connection between her and Akemi…

Whoever was after Sueko wanted her for her powers. All the stones of the elements would be needed. Then the demon would have to find the hut, the sight where the girl had lost the multi colored stone. Finally the demon would have to find the remains of the village, the only ground strong enough to feel such power at once. It was the sight where the Spirit Shrine is held, where Kikyo had gained her powers. And before her, Midorkio.

Myoga jumped up onto the book as she turned the page and glared up at her.

"You knew very well that the barrier wasn't strong enough to keep us out didn't you!?" he cried.

"You would be correct flea," sighed Yoshiko, flicking Myoga off the book and closing it. She picked up a bag that she found on the ground and put the book in it. The flea jumped up on her shoulder.

"Well I'll have you know that I will not forgive you for not telling me!" said Myoga, crossing his arms.

"There's nothing of interest here. We should probably go catch up with the others," said Yoshiko heading out of the shrine.

"What about the stones?" cried Myoga, bouncing up and down.

"If there were some they aren't here now. I believe my father had the last one but he lost it to a demon," explained Yoshiko, heading back down the hill and past her brother's grave.

"What about the priest!?" shouted Myoga.

"The last priest was my brother and he was killed by a demon too, though he possessed no stone," muttered Yoshiko.

"Well then. What about you?" inquired Myoga.

"Sueko said her sword glows blue whenever I bring out my dagger but I posses no Earth powers. If I have any stones it would be a Fire one," stated Yoshiko.

"Ah yes. I recall hearing that the Tiger Demons protected the Fire Shrine. Maybe your mother was part of the family that protected it," said Myoga, calming down a little.

"I wouldn't know. Now, where exactly were the others planning on going to?" asked Yoshiko.

"I believe Lord Miroku talked about sending Lady Sueko back home for a week so they would be at Kaede's village for sure," said Myoga, settling down for the trip.

"I guess our destination is Kaede's village," muttered Yoshiko, heading in the direction she had before she had met InuYasha.

'I hope he isn't mad at me for what I had said about Kagome… I only wished to help him heal a bit quicker but I guess facing the facts isn't always the easiest way.'  
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It took the rest of lunch and two hours of passing notes back and forth to each other for Sueko to finally explain all she knew about Feudal Japan to Tamika and Keitaro. Though Keitaro was still skeptical about the whole thing and demanded proof. But how Sueko could give him some she had no clue. What was she supposed to do, introduce them to InuYasha, the only one of her friends that could go through the well too?

Actually, that was a thought… but Sueko would have to wait until maybe the end of the week for that kind of thing to occur. For now, all Sueko needed to focus on was her homework… man, did she have plenty of that to go around!

That's what you get for running around in the past playing your role as the protector of the spirit shrine. Sueko expected that a protector for something that special would be hard at work doing really cool things, but so far she had no need to do anything. Though the whole thing was rather mysterious (not even Myoga knew much, and he seemed like the type to know a lot), Sueko was pretty sure she didn't have some sort of hidden power. Though she didn't even know about the shrine she supposedly protected… thinking about all of this made Sueko's head spin!

'Okay, back to the homework…' thought Sueko, turning to page 347 in her math book only to stare at the textbook in confusion. The one problem with moving and then being gone for three weeks was that you got _very, very _behind.

A sudden _tap, tap_ on the window made Sueko's thoughts on intriguers fall completely out of her head. Pushing the homework off her lap and rushing to the window in one swift motion, Sueko looked eagerly out the window. The sight outside of it made her heart sink.

The tapping noise started again as a tree branch whacked the window. Sighing, Sueko slowly crawled back into her bed, opened her math book and attempted to concentrate on her homework assignment once more.

'I should have known,' Sueko thought darkly, erasing the first problem and starting over again. 'Why would InuYasha come _here_? _Now_? All right, so he's supposed to come fetch me if anything happened, but nothing could have happened. They wouldn't need me anyways. My sword skills are rather useless…'

Sueko sighed again, dropping her pen on her notebook and giving up with the homework. She couldn't wait until next week when she'd finally be going back to Feudal Japan. Maybe her heart wouldn't ache so much if she got to see InuYasha again. Maybe she wouldn't feel so depressed and miserable, or lonely, or… _empty…_

Sueko smiled. There was only one thing that helped get rid of the thoughts of the love of her life: sword practice.

There was always tomorrow for homework. And hopefully her mother wouldn't mind her being outside practicing the use of a deadly weapon… heck, it was all for a good cause! Who wants stupid, evil demons walking around, anyways?

And Sueko was pretty sure you didn't need to know a single thing about intriguers in Feudal Japan, or in order to be the protector of the Spirit Shrine.


	7. InuYasha's Secret and Yoshiko's Feelings

**AUTHORS NOTES:  
**Wow, yet more fan fic! Aren't you so amazed?! Okay, just read and reply and have a nice day!

**DISCLAIMER:  
**We don't own InuYasha, sorry, we're just borrowing him, along with all the other characters and stuff like that. Anything you don't recognize from the show or manga belongs to my friend who's helping me write this, Ravyn89, and me, Kayhera. So no stealing! And the title is kinda a joke from the "Shiori's Family and InuYasha's Feelings" episode, but it really has nothing to do with this post, sorry. Kirara also does not belong to us. We have forgotten to mention the demon cat this whole time… I feel so bad!!! Oh well, she actually does something in this post, so you can enjoy that!  
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**Chapter Six: InuYasha's Secret and Yoshiko's Feelings**

Sueko woke up to her alarm clock ringing on the nightstand. Whacking it a few times before finally hitting the snooze button, she sat up and blinked sleepily. It was Tuesday. Something was supposed to happen today… but what it was Sueko really could not remember.

Shrugging to herself, she got up, took a shower, got dressed, grabbed her school stuff, and, skipping breakfast because she was too lazy to make anything, opened the front door and headed towards school.

But she had barely walked off the front porch before someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"What?" she said tiredly, turning around and expecting her mother to be standing there crying, "You forgot something!" But it wasn't Sueko's mother… it was InuYasha.

"It's been seven days," InuYasha said crankily, crossing his arms.

"W—what?" said Sueko sleepily, blinking at InuYasha.

"It's been a week. You're supposed to come back today," explained InuYasha.

"Huh…" said Sueko, her brain still not working.

"Wake up already!" cried InuYasha, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently.

"I don't want to…" mumbled Sueko, shrugging the hands off her shoulders.

"Look, are you coming or not?" complained InuYasha, crossing his arms again.

"Oh, fine," said Sueko, scratching her head and walking back in the house. Taking off her school uniform and putting on some normal clothes (a skirt was really not practical in a world full of demons) and packing up stuff she would need in the Feudal Era, she said good-bye to her mother (her dad was at work) and went back outside. InuYasha was still outside and he was leaning against a tree.

Then Sueko thought of something. If she was supposed to have a crush on the guy in front of her then why wasn't she feeling anything? She might be tired, but not _that_ tired. And she had been wearing a skirt earlier (for it was part of the school uniform) and she didn't even _care_, and she got embarrassed about wearing a skirt in front of _everyone_.

"Hello?" Now InuYasha was standing in front of her, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hi," Sueko returned, walking towards the well. Though she didn't show it, now she was extremely happy. 'I don't like him anymore! Wahoo! In _that way_, I mean…'

"Fine, be that way," muttered InuYasha, catching up with her. Sueko smiled.  
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Climbing out of the well, Sueko had barely stood up before a small fuzzy something came colliding to Sueko's chest. She screamed, but it turned out to have only been Shippo.

"Yay! You're back!" cried Shippo, hugging her.

"Yeah…" said Sueko, pushing Shippo down a few inches. "So, anything new happen?" she asked, turning to InuYasha.

"No. That's why I got you. It was getting boring," said InuYasha, showing absolutely no emotion whatsoever. Which really bugged Sueko, but it's not like she could do anything about it.

"Okay. Well, if nothing exciting is happening, maybe I should go back home…" teased Sueko, grabbing her book bag.

"You're leaving? _Again?_ No! Don't go!" cried Shippo, clinging to Sueko's stomach and crying.

"It'd be quite unusual if you went back home. You just got here," said Miroku.

"Oh. So _now_ you want me," said Sueko, raising an eyebrow at the monk.

"No, I'm just worried about Shippo's well-being," said Miroku simply.

"Yeah, sure," said Sueko as Sango hit Miroku on the head. "Okay, Shippo, _sit_," said Sueko, pushing the little fox demon down. But she was interrupted by a loud crashing noise.

"WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR?!" bellowed InuYasha.

"Huh?" said Sueko, looking at InuYasha. But he wasn't there. "Where are you?!"

"Oh, I don't know… THE GROUND!!!"

"Huh?" said Sueko, looking down.

"That's interesting," said Sango, looking down at the half-demon on the ground. "Only Kagome could do that."

"What'd you do?" asked Sueko, raising her eyebrows at InuYasha who was lying on the ground face down.

"Me? _Me?_ What'd you do?" cried InuYasha. He sounded extremely pissed.

"Um…" said Sueko. Shrugging, she got Shippo off her and grabbed InuYasha's wrist to help him stand. Or tried… she wasn't _that_ strong.

InuYasha was still looking down at Sueko (for he was a few inches taller than her) with a menacing look on his face. "Um… I'm sorry?" tried Sueko, smiling sheepishly.

"Feh," said InuYasha rudely.

"What'd I do?" cried Sueko, looking around at everyone.

"Well, InuYasha had been trying to kill Kagome for the Shikon Jewel so Lady Kaede put this necklace on him. Only Kagome could say the word to restrain him. By saying 'sit' you tapped into the power of the prayer beads to control him. It should have been only Kagome who could have done that… but you are the protector of the Spirit Shrine which did give Kagome her mystical powers so there's probably an exception for you," explained Miroku.

"Uh huh," said Sueko. She had just woken up so her brain wasn't quite processing. "Could you say that in English?"

Miroku blinked a couple of times and then he cried out: "Wh—what!? You didn't understand that!? You impertinent little child! It's not that simple of things. The mystical powers make sense so you should be grateful that I even tried!!!"

"Calm down Miroku," sighed Sango, rolling her eyes.

"Well—I—" tried Sueko, though InuYasha interrupted her babbling.

"I'll put it in English: Don't do it _ever again!_" he snarled.

Sueko smiled sweetly. "InuYasha… SIT!"

"YOU LITTLE—"

"InuYasha, what did you expect?" said Shippo, who had sat down in front of InuYasha's head with his arms and legs crossed and a little smirk on his face. "You told her not to do it so she did it. What did you expect?"

"Why, I oughta…" muttered InuYasha. He looked as though he was struggling—to probably murder Shippo or something of the likes.

"Don't make me say it again," teased Sueko, sitting next to Shippo.

InuYasha growled.

"I'll say it again if you don't learn to behave," taunted Sueko.

Just then a thin, whitish substance started moving along in the grass right next to Sueko. She suspected it had been here for a while but she was just now noticing it. Everyone else stopped what he or she was doing (which was actually not much, just watching the scene between InuYasha, Sueko and Shippo, but whatever) and looked at the whitish string too and cried out as it wrapped itself around Sueko's wrist and started dragging her off.

"A spider demon!" cried Sango, pointing to the source dragging Sueko. There was a large, black spider about twenty feet away, and even though Sueko wasn't afraid of spiders she wasn't exactly happy about this one. Sueko tried ripping the thing on her wrist but even though it had looked so thin it wouldn't come off.

She was now right in front of the spider. Its head seemed to look down at Sueko, and she flinched as if she had been slapped. She sat up, trying once more to rip the stuff off her wrist when she felt a sharp pain on her shoulder. Turning towards it, Sueko noticed that she had been bit by the spider demon.

"If you faint you're on your own!" she could hear InuYasha cry out.

"Damn it!" she screamed just as her eyes started drooping.

"Are you all right?" asked Shippo worriedly, though his voice sounded far away.

"No, are you blind or something?!" Sueko yelled, though when it came out all she did was mutter. She felt exhausted for some strange reason…

The last thing Sueko heard before she fell unconscious was InuYasha crying out, "Sueko!" realizing what was wrong.  
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The trip to Kaede's village was far less eventful than her first, as Yoshiko followed Myoga's instructions to the Bone-Eater's well. This time, though, she wasn't alone and it wasn't all that quiet. The flea just wouldn't shut up! She had flicked him into a tree, squashed him, threw him into the ground and threatened to drown him but still he continued to talk.

But it wasn't that bad. Sometimes he was quite entertaining. Other times she could actually carry on a decent conversation with him. But it really was annoying how he kept on bringing up her family… until pointed out a snake that looked very hungry. Then he shut up about it. He didn't completely shut up though… Myoga just kept on talking about other things. Like his family!

Yoshiko did not relent though to his subtle attempts to get her to talk about her family. She just let the flea talk on, sometimes laughing sometimes getting annoyed. Finally they weren't that far away from the village and Myoga started seeing some familiar landmarks.

"Ah yes! Just a few more miles this way and we should meet up with Lord InuYasha and the others while they wait for Lady Sueko to show up," said Myoga.

"You don't think that maybe she's all ready shown up?" asked Yoshiko, noticing some nice yellow flowers that Sueko might enjoy.

She shook her head sadly remembering them as her little brother's favorite flowers. At least, she thought they were his favorite. He would give them to her on her birthday every year… and other special events.

"May I ask what is on your mind, Lady Yoshiko?" asked Myoga.

Yoshiko blinked and grinned at the flea.

"I thought I saw a spider web with a spider who looked very hungry… but then I realized the spider must have left a few days ago," teased Yoshiko.

"Wh—what!?" cried the flea.

"I said…" started Yoshiko.

"I heard what you said!!" cried Myoga. "But did you really mean to feed me to that spider!?"

"Do you really think I would have thought of it if I wouldn't have?" asked Yoshiko, smirking.

"I should have known… You hate me, don't you!?" accused Myoga, pointing his fingers at her.

"No, not at all!" said Yoshiko, sarcastically.

"Oh, well, in that case…. Hey!"

Yoshiko burst out of the trees near the well laughing at the flea. When she looked up she found InuYasha clenching his fists, Sango comforting Shippo and Miroku in deep thought. At first she thought maybe Sueko was just late but the girl's bag was sitting right next to the well so she obviously had come back. Why then did everybody look frustrated? No… not frustrated…

"What happened!?" snapped Yoshiko.

"What makes you think something happened?" growled InuYasha.

"You really don't trust me, do you?" sighed Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"What makes you think that?" snapped InuYasha.

"Enough! What is going on?" asked Yoshiko.

"Nothing," said InuYasha.

"Something is going on! The monk doesn't think that hard unless something is. Now what is going on?" cried Yoshiko.

"Nothing is going on!" yelled InuYasha.

"WHERE'S SUEKO!?" screamed Yoshiko. Everybody looked up, wide-eyed. "Tell me where she is right now or, so help me, I will break your neck!"

The wind blew through the grass as Yoshiko stood shaking with anger and every body else stared at her, shocked. During the shouting Myoga had abandoned Yoshiko for Kirara, thinking it far safer than on the furious half-demon. She looked from each face but still nobody seemed willing to give her any information.

"Well?" said Yoshiko, her voice seeming to ring across the clearing.

"Well, um…" started Sango.

But it almost seemed like Yoshiko had given up on asking for information. She walked, almost calmly, up to InuYasha, pulled back her fist and hitting him in the eye. He recoiled slightly, almost falling, but catching his balance. He looked back at her, clutching at his injured eye. For a minute he thought about hitting her back but there was more than just anger in Yoshiko's face. A sort of grief hovered there as well.

"She was kidnapped by a spider demon," muttered InuYasha, looking away.

For a minute everybody expected her to explode, to blame InuYasha. But instead she sat down and leaned against the well. She clenched her eyes closed to try and stop the inevitable tears. Shippo thought about giving her a hug but hesitated. She was a lot like InuYasha after all.

'She's just a girl… A silly, stupid little girl. Why do I care? There's plenty more girl's out there so why do I have to get attached to this one?' thought Yoshiko, struggling against the tears.

"The thing about spider demons is that they always leave a trail of spider web. If we're going to rescue Sueko we better leave now. We don't want to wait too late or it'll be dark by the time we find her," said Miroku.

"How big was the demon?" asked Yoshiko, stalling for time.

"How would I know!?" snapped InuYasha. "Do you think that we could have taken out a measuring tape and see how big the thing was? If we could do that Sueko wouldn't still be kidnapped, would she?"

"Give me your best estimate then," said Yoshiko coldly.

"It wasn't that big. It was more like it was quick and agile," muttered InuYasha. "What is it with you anyways!?"

In response Yoshiko looked up and glared at him.

"We can deal with this later," said Sango. "In the mean time lets go try and find Sueko."

"Yeah!" agreed Shippo.

Yoshiko nodded, and stood up. She felt numb all over as if she was swimming in ice-cold water. The small Kirara changed into her larger form and Shippo quickly jumped on.

"You're such a little coward," muttered Yoshiko, following InuYasha toward the spider web trail in the forest.

"I—am—not… a coward," stammered Shippo, shivering.

"Somebody will need to stay here and guard Sueko's stuff," said Yoshiko kindly. "And I think there's a brave little fox demon who's willing to do that."

"Really? Where?" said Shippo, looking around.

The half tiger demon smiled slightly and picked Shippo off of Kirara. Then she set him down next to Sueko's bag and handed him her little dagger.

"Wh—what's this for?" asked Shippo.

"Something to keep you safe… and also something else you need to protect," said Yoshiko seriously.

"Wait! You tell me I'm supposed to use it to protect me but also I'm supposed to protect it? That's just messed up!" cried Shippo.

"Just do it," snapped Yoshiko, hurrying after the rest of the group.

The trip through the forest was quiet… a little _too_ quiet. It left too much time for thought. Sometimes her mind wandered to Godric, other times to what the spider demon could be doing to Sueko. Mostly she tried to figure out why she even cared at all. The girl was annoying!

'But she is quite determined… just like Godric,' thought Yoshiko.

She shook her head violently to purge it of those kinds of thoughts. Thinking of Sueko was fine. Thinking about Godric was okay. But thinking about them both in one thought was just too much for her to handle. Sango looked at her worriedly.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah…" muttered Yoshiko, looking away.

"I'm sure Sueko is fine. She's a strong, stubborn girl," said Sango.

Yoshiko nodded and looked away silently.  
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By the time the sun was starting to set they had reached the cave where they expected to find the spider demon. At least, InuYasha said he could smell Sueko's blood in it but that didn't make Yoshiko feel any better about it. But before anybody else could do anything she was rushing into the cave listening for any sound of the girl. It didn't take too long to find her though.

She was standing not too far from the mouth of the cave looking down at the ground in almost disbelief. Yoshiko sighed in relief and contemplated hugging Sueko. But then she looked up and her face softened.

"Oh. You showed up. Sorry… the demon is kind of… dead… all ready… I don't know why… it just… died," said Sueko.

"You're alive," said Yoshiko in a sort of half daze.

"Yeah! You think that stupid little spider demon could kill me? It wasn't even that big!" cried Sueko.

Suddenly Yoshiko's eyes narrowed and she slapped Sueko… hard.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, you hear!?" she snapped.

"Um… that kind of hurt… What did you do that for!?" Sueko half shouted.

The others stood in the entrance of the cave in total disbelief unsure of what's going on. Kirara walked in and started nudging the dead body of the spider demon. But still Sueko and Yoshiko just looked at each other.

InuYasha was just about to say something when Yoshiko burst into tears and hugged Sueko. The girl stood there, shocked for a moment but then patted Yoshiko's back awkwardly.

"It's okay… You can vent your anger on some other demon…" muttered Sueko in a trying to be comforting way.

"I am not going to lose you too…" whispered Yoshiko.

"Feh," said InuYasha, walking away.

In response Miroku hit him over the head with his staff.

"InuYasha!" said Sueko, looking at him over Yoshiko's shoulder.

"Oh no you don't—" started InuYasha.

"SIT!"

With a cry InuYasha fell to the ground. Yoshiko looked up at him, blinking rapidly. Then she started laughing. The others joined in and soon they were all standing around laughing at InuYasha who looked up and just glared at them all.

"What do you think is so funny?" he growled.

"Oh shut up mister cranky," said Yoshiko, helping Sueko into the forest. "You don't have to snap at us for your stupidity."

"WHAT!?"

"We all love you, InuYasha!" cried Sueko.

With that they all started laughing again and headed back to the well… and Shippo.


	8. The New Moon

**DISCLAIMER/AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**We still don't own InuYasha, sorry. All we own is the plot and any characters that you don't recognize from the show (which is a bit too many to list… okay, there isn't a whole lot, only about ten since you haven't met them all yet, but I'm just lazy. :P). Merry Christmas and a belated Happy Hanukkah! (I'm posting this on X-mas day. Wahoo!). I got an InuYasha calendar, and it has this little picture of human-InuYasha every day it's a new moon. It's soooo cool, except my birthday picture sucks!!!! Who wants Kagura on their birthday month?! Okay, maybe just me. Birthday's in March, by the way… And just to let you know, after Chapter Eight (which will be up in a few days) there won't be any updates for about a week or two because Ravyn89 is going over to California to visit family…. I might be able to write Chapter Nine on my own but… whatever. Anyways, I'll post this and go back to listening to my new No Doubt CD (_The Singles 1992-2003_) and update my Harry Potter fan fic, _Life is a Road, a Wonderful Journey_, and you can have a jolly good time reading this wonderful update and replying to it. If you like human InuYasha then you'll really like this post! :)

PS: Just to let you know, I _do_ know the difference between stalactites and stalagmites (stala**c**tites, **c**eiling; stala**g**mites, **g**round) but InuYasha doesn't. So the mix up is actually intentional and I'm not an idiot so don't say in your reply, "_but_ he didn't use a stalactite!" because it'd just be a complete waste of time and would make me cranky.

And to answer your question, _yes,_ they do go into a cave again. This leaves off exactly where the last one ended, except for its nighttime. Wahoo.  
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**Chapter Seven: The New Moon**

Eventually the gang headed back towards Shippo and the Bone Eater's well. When they got there, Shippo jumped up and cried, "Yay, you're back!" and ran over to Sueko to hug her again.

"Um…" said Sueko, looking down at the little fox demon. "Shippo, I know you're happy to see me and all, but could you _not_ do that every time you see me?"

Shippo ignored the comment, hugging her legs tighter and sighing in contentment. Sueko rolled her eyes and looked up. Miroku and Sango were just coming out of the forest (for Sueko had been ahead of everyone) and they were closely followed by Yoshiko and a man with a red kimono, black hair and grey eyes who looked strangely familiar…

"InuYasha?!" Sueko cried out.

"Feh!" the black haired man said, crossing his arms.

"Oh, it's the new moon," said Sueko thoughtfully.

"Ah yes, good for me," said InuYasha grumpily, sitting down and leaning against the well.

"Oh, shut up you party pooper!" said Sueko.

"At least its only once a month, InuYasha," said Yoshiko, trying to hide a smile. "The half moon shows up twice a month."

When InuYasha just growled at this remark, Sueko sat down in front of him and said with a smile, "You know, I could make your life so much worse by saying a certain _s_ word…"

"Give the poor guy a break," said Sango, who had started to fix up Sueko's bite wound.

"Oh, like he would be nice to me if I was in his shoes," said Sueko, crossing her arms and giving InuYasha a look.

"I don't know, you might actually be surprised," said Yoshiko.

"Feh," said InuYasha again.

"Stop complaining!" said Sueko impatiently. "You're actually kinda cute looking… except for you're missing a little something here, and here," she added, putting a finger on the two spots where his dog ears would have been.

"Do that again and I'll kill you," snapped InuYasha.

"Oh please! Like you can do anything when it's not the new moon!" laughed Yoshiko.

InuYasha rolled his eyes and Sueko laughed. "Okay, I'll stop torturing you… for now."

"Fine."

"Cheer up already!" cried Sueko. "Guys have it made! They don't have to deal with cramps or periods or anything like that. So you have to deal with turning into a mortal once a month… girls get to be in pain and agony for a whole _week_ once in a month, so shut up!"

InuYasha just blinked at Sueko for a few minutes.

"I don't think he understood a word you just said," said Yoshiko, sounding amused.

"Humph!" said Sueko, who leaned over against the well's side and crossed her arms, copying InuYasha's position. Though the both of them were both on their feet a minute or two later when—

"The ground's starting to move!" cried Shippo, clinging to Sueko's leg, making Sueko sigh and roll her eyes.

"It's not moving," she said tiredly. "Something really big is walking."

"You're supposed to make him feel better, not make him feel worse," said InuYasha.

Sueko just muttered, "Well aren't you cranky?!" as the ground continued to shake.

Yoshiko pulled out her sword and Sango got her boomerang ready. InuYasha didn't do anything, just stood there looking quite impatient. Sueko, noticing that the others were preparing for battle, decided to do so too so she pulled out her sword—without any help either! Then again, she _had_ been practicing…

A giant beast appeared when it finally stepped out of the forest. It kind of reminded Sueko of an ogre, but she didn't exactly met very many on the daily bases, so she might be wrong… he was sort of grey in color, and… well, there wasn't much to say about him. He was just plain ugly!

The ogre turned his head as if looking for something… or someone.

'Oh great,' thought Sueko, 'not another demon after me. Shesh! If I'm this popular with the demons, how come I never was at school?!'

When the ogre spoke, Sueko was surprised at what it said. With a voice that actually sounded ugly (if that was even possible) and sounded cold and angry, he said, "Where's InuYasha?"

'He had to pick tonight, didn't he?' thought Sueko miserably. After all, tonight was the new moon and InuYasha was in no shape to be dealing with his own demons.

"Where's InuYasha!" repeated the ogre when no one had spoken, walking right up to the well that InuYasha, Sueko and Shippo were standing near.

"What's it to you?" yelled InuYasha, crossing his arms tiredly as though he had been through this a million times and just wanted the whole damn thing to be over with. After all, battling demons wasn't exactly fun or anything.

"I want…" the ogre paused for some reason. "Tetsusaiga…"

'Wow, he wants his sword,' thought Sueko sarcastically. 'InuYasha, can you just kill him and get it over with?'

"Well, you can't have it, sorry!" cried InuYasha, pulling out Tetsusaiga and gripping it in front of him, ready to attack.

Sueko resisted hitting the guy aside the head. He had just revealed himself, the idiot! She resided to just sighing in an annoyed sort of way, making InuYasha glance at her before looking back at the ogre.

"So you're… InuYasha…" said the ogre. Sueko realized that he kept pausing when he talked because he was talking so slow. Though this idea was amusing Sueko knew this was a serious situation. Unless the demon was really pathetic and could be killed easily… but he was really, really, _really_ big…

"Yes. And you're dead!" cried InuYasha, using the Wind Scar to defeat the ogre.

Well, at least, he _tried_. He forgot that, because he was lacking of demonic powers at the moment, the sword didn't transform, so therefore the Wind Scar no longer worked.

Seeing this, the ogre laughed. Well, Sueko thought he did. It kind of sounded like a laugh but it was just so slow. Then the ogre said, "I knew… tonight… would be… a good night… to attack… You are… only… mortal now…"

"InuYasha!" cried Yoshiko, who began to shove InuYasha aside so she could attack the demon. But before she could even lift her arms to push him back, the ogre bent down and grabbed InuYasha around the waist.

"I… have… you now!" the ogre cried out triumphantly, lifting InuYasha up in front of his face. Sueko could see InuYasha struggle, but it was absolutely no use. The ogre was just too strong… and big…

"What do we do _now_?" cried Sueko crankily. This had got to be the worst Tuesday ever. First she has to wake up to go to school (she never gets used to waking up early till Thursday, but by then what's the point?), then she had to go back to Feudal Japan (though this is actually a good thing… but she still had to _pack_), then she got kidnapped by some spider demon and then killed it without knowing how, and _now_ her friend was getting kidnapped by some ugly and slow ogre? What next?!

In response Sango flung her boomerang at the ogre, only to have it bounce off his leg. Then the ogre started walking back into the forest, laughing.

"Hey, come back!" cried Sueko. "We haven't killed you yet!"

Well, she knew that would never work, but whatever.

"Lets go after it!" said Sueko, putting her sword back into its sheath and heading towards the woods.

Someone might have called out for her, but Sueko didn't pay attention or look back, just kept walking.

"No one steals _my_ boyfriend without some pay back!" muttered Sueko. Not that InuYasha was her boyfriend or anything. She didn't even like him in that way. It just sounded more dramatic.

But then someone called out her name, and Sueko found herself stopped and turning around. Yoshiko stood there looking flustered and extremely worried. Yet she also had this glint in her eye like she knew something she shouldn't. Sueko raised her eyebrows at her but said, "What?"

Yoshiko didn't say anything at first, just walked up to Sueko. Then she just walked past her as if to say, "Continue walking," so Sueko did so, rushing to Yoshiko's side and walking with her. But Yoshiko still wouldn't say anything so Sueko said, "What do you want?"

Yoshiko sighed. "You like him, don't you?"

"Huh?" said Sueko, confused.

"InuYasha," said Yoshiko quietly. "You like him."

"Duh," said Sueko. "No, I hate his guts and he's my worst enemy and I'm only saving him because I'm bored out of my mind."

"No, I'm being serious!" said Yoshiko. Now she was sounding amused. "You're in love with InuYasha, aren't you?"

Sueko's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing—_she_, in love with _InuYasha_?! Sure, she had just gotten over that stupid crush, but still… why would anyone suspected that she liked him?

Getting her voice back, she cried, "No, I do _not_ like him! Why in God's name would you think that?!"

Yoshiko, who had been looking ahead the whole entire time, finally looked down at Sueko (apparently everyone was taller then Sueko… not that she was short or anything, she was just younger!) with a smile on her face. "Well, let's see… you tease him all the time, act embarrassed around him, rarely look straight into his face, act like at total klutz around him, and are extremely protective over him. You can't say you don't like him!"

Sueko found this kind of funny… except the whole klutz thing. Must everyone rub that into her?!

"I _did_ like InuYasha," Sueko admitted. "In-that-way, I mean. But now… nope, I just like him as much as I like everyone else."

"Uh huh," said Yoshiko, her voice full of doubt.

"What?! I don't like him!" cried Sueko.

"Okay…" said Yoshiko, smiling. Sueko scowled and crossed her arms in frustration.

"Sueko? Yoshiko?"

The two girls spun around and found Miroku, Sango and Shippo running to catch up with them.

"Oh. So _now_ you want to come with," said Sueko.

"Don't run off like that again!" cried Shippo. "I was so worried about you!"

Sueko sighed. Shippo was really starting to get on her nerves…  
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InuYasha wasn't very found of caves. They weren't exactly a cozy, comfortable place to be in and they reminded him of Onigumo which was never a nice topic to think about because then it reminded him of Kikyo and Naraku and Kagome… the three people he _never_ wanted to think about.

Nope. Caves really weren't InuYasha's thing.

Anyways, the ogre had carried InuYasha to this cave—though it was a different cave then the one Sueko had battled the spider demon in (how many caves were around here?!)—and, after taking his sword away from him, dropped InuYasha on the ground. This wasn't exactly a trip, seeing how the ogre had to be at least twenty feet tall and the cave floor being made of rock and all… well, InuYasha really didn't feel like getting up after that but knew he had to get the Tetsusaiga back _somehow_ so, trying his best to ignore the pain in his back, got up anyways.

"Give that back!" InuYasha shouted to the ogre, leaning against the rock wall.

The ogre just laughed, inspecting the sword.

InuYasha sighed. The ogre had the Tetsusaiga, so he couldn't exactly use _that_ to defeat him, and with it being the new moon his demonic powers were gone until sunrise… there was nothing in the cave he could use as a weapon besides little rocks but that would probably just provoke the ogre… what was he to do?

"Now what… am I… to do… with you?" the ogre said, sounding amused as he tilted his head in InuYasha's direction.

InuYasha groaned. He didn't liking the sound of this.

Dodging a blow to the head from the ogre (apparently it had decided on crushing him to death in order to get rid of him), InuYasha spotted a cluster of stalactites… well something like that. Kagome had at one time taught him the difference between stalactites and stalagmites when she had been studying for one of those test things in this era, but he couldn't remember how to tell the difference. All InuYasha knew was that they were tall, stick things coming up from the ground that would make the perfect tool for whacking a giant ogre who's trying to kill you.

He rushed over to the clump of stalactite-thingy's and, using all his strength, yanked one from the ground and gripped it like a club, facing the ogre.

Seeing InuYasha with a stalactite in his hands, the ogre laughed again, which just annoyed InuYasha and made him grip the stalactite tighter.

"You think… you can defeat… me… that easily?" roared the ogre, laughing some more.

InuYasha's eyebrows narrowed in annoyance. "I can try!" he yelled, swinging the stalactite like a baseball bat.

The ogre laughed yet again, for when InuYasha swung the stalactite all it did was bounce off the ogre's leg. "What did… I tell you? No mortal… can defeat… me!" And with a twisted sort of smile he took his long, thick arm and used it to shove InuYasha against the wall.

InuYasha cried out as he fell to the floor. He felt as though every bone in his body had been crushed—actually, that might have been the truth. The pain was almost unbearable… probably the only reason why he didn't loose consciousness now was because InuYasha suddenly heard a voice cry out—

"InuYasha!"

Standing at the mouth of the cave was Sueko, a sword in her hand and a slight breeze blowing through that messy brown hair of hers. Her green-hazel eyes were on InuYasha and were wide with worriment but a second later they were staring at the ogre, squinting with detestation.

With a cry of rage Sueko swung the sword with all her might. Though all it did was graze the ogre's leg.

The ogre didn't say anything, just laughed some more. Sueko narrowed her eyebrows and swung the sword again, doing no more damage then the first swing did.

'It's no use!' thought InuYasha, trying his best to keep his eyes open and say conscious. 'There's no way it can be defeated without Tetsusaiga…'

Sueko just barely dodged a blow from the ogre's arm, but she wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the second arm coming her way and found herself being pushed away. Lucky for Sueko the blow was weaker then the one used on InuYasha so she was only "tossed aside" and found herself lying on the ground. Really hard cave ground, but still. Sueko quickly got up and held out her sword in front of her. But the ogre whacked her aside yet again—this time with full power, as Sueko was whammed against the cave wall.

InuYasha didn't think Sueko would ever get up, but she did weakly. She leaned on her sword for support and stood there shakily.

The ogre smiled and looked down at Sueko. "You… are… going… to… die!"

Just as another one of his arms went towards Sueko, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "I WILL _NOT_!" and held out her sword. With no longer having anything to support her weight Sueko fell to her knees, and just as they made contact with the ground a sort of blue bubble came out of her sword and surrounded Sueko. When the ogre's arm finally did make contact with Sueko, it just bounced off the blue bubble. It must have been some sort of shield… coming out of the sword?

The ogre hesitated, looking at the bubble-shield surrounding Sueko with befuddlement. Sueko looked just as confused as InuYasha felt, looking around the blue bubble that surrounded her. Then, as quickly as it had come the bubble vanished, going back into the sword. Noticing that the barrier between him and Sueko gone, the ogre made a fist and aimed it towards Sueko, but not before Sueko lifted her sword over her head and brought it back down to the cave floor, wind sweeping forward with great force.

"The Wind Scar…" muttered InuYasha as he watched the ogre die from the attack. 'But that's impossible! Only the Tetsusaiga can use the Wind Scar!"

But InuYasha didn't have another thought as the pain became too unbearable and his vision clouded up.  
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When InuYasha finally woke up his eyes opened wide and he quickly sat up, though collapsed back on the floor after feeling the pain.

"_Finally,_ you're awake."

"Yoshiko?" muttered InuYasha, turning his head to the source of the sound. Yoshiko was leaning against the wall of some sort of hut with her arms and legs crossed and a smirk on her face—but other then that she was relatively calm.

"Hello, sleepy head," she said quietly.

"Where's Sueko?" InuYasha cried out. He would have probably have sat up again if he hadn't regretted it the first time he did so. But he all of a sudden wanted—no, _needed_—to know where Sueko is, and if she was all right—_right now_.

Yoshiko, amazingly enough, was not startled by his outburst but said sternly, "She's right over there. Now shut up or she'll wake up." She pointed to the other side of the small hut. InuYasha turned his head and saw a young woman with lovely brunette hair with bits of it cascading across her face. Her pale pink lips were slightly opened and her dazzling green and hazel eyes were covered because she was asleep. She looked so peaceful lying there… she could have been mistaken for being dead instead of sleeping if it wasn't for the fact that locks of her silky brown hair fluttered each time she breathed out.

InuYasha knew this girl. This was the annoying, silly, foolish girl that came out of the Bone Eaters well a month ago, but somehow she wasn't the same girl. It was like now she had become a woman. It was really weird…

"InuYasha?"

InuYasha slowly turned his head back to Yoshiko, not wanted to tear his eyes away from the stunning beauty lying to his right.

"I suppose you want to know what happened," said Yoshiko wearily.

"Sure," said InuYasha.

"Okay, well, basically Sueko showed up a head of us so I'm not sure what she did, but when I showed up she had just done the Wind Scar… Miroku says that the sword must be able to tap into all four of the elements powers in desperate situations, seeing how it belongs to the protector of the Spirit Shrine… in other words, it was a complete fluke and probably never happen again… Then I went over and got your sword while Sango and Miroku got you and Sueko onto Kirara… and now you are here. And just to let you know," said Yoshiko with a slight smile, "It's still the new moon."

"Huh?" said InuYasha, startled by the last statement. "Oh."

"Now that we have _that_ out of the way," said Yoshiko, a smile appearing on her face again, "There's an issue that must be dealt with."

"W—what?" said InuYasha, taken aback again.

Yoshiko paused as if thinking of the best way to start saying what she was about to say. But eventually she got an idea and said in a bit of a rush, "Have you noticed that lately Sueko's been acting a little—erm—_strange_?"

"Uh…" In truth InuYasha didn't have the slightest clue what she was talking about. Okay, Sueko was kind of acting different _right now_, but InuYasha was pretty sure Yoshiko was not talking about a change in character that sudden. Actually, InuYasha felt slightly remorseful after realizing that he never really paid much attention to the girl, as silly as she was.

"I take it you haven't," said Yoshiko tonelessly.

"Not really," said InuYasha.

Yoshiko sighed and tried to think of how to explain whatever she wanted to explain. Then she tried again. "You haven't noticed how she acts slightly different whenever you're nearby?"

"What do you mean 'slightly different'?" snapped InuYasha, propping himself up against the wall slightly. Maybe Yoshiko was just trying to play with his all ready fragile emotions. Besides it was the new moon and they were always closer to the surface at that time…

"I mean she blushes a lot, teases you, becomes really ditsy… the things girls do around cute guys," explained Yoshiko off handedly, with a slight smirk.

If InuYasha hadn't been so stubborn he might have gotten it right away. But he wasn't willing to believe it. If he thought about that he might face losing somebody else he cared about… like his mother, like Kikyo, like… Kagome. He turned away from Yoshiko and his eyes fell on the sleeping form of Sueko again.

"You're pathetic," scowled Yoshiko, leaning back completely against the wall and closing her eyes. "You're too bundled up in feeling sorry for yourself because you lost Kagome that you hadn't noticed that Sueko had fallen in love with you!"

InuYasha looked up, eyes wide. Yoshiko didn't look at him but continued on speaking.

"But even if you had noticed what would you have done about it? Nothing because all you really care about is drowning in misery over losing Kagome."

"That's not true!" shouted InuYasha.

Sueko groaned and rolled over on her mat. Yoshiko opened her eyes and glared at him until he crossed his arms angrily.

"And let's say you noticed and you fell in love with her, what then? Nothing because you won't let anybody take Kagome's place even though she's dead!"

"What's up with Kagome? You bring her up every other sentence," replied InuYasha moodily. He wouldn't admit it, but Yoshiko was right—completely and utterly correct. He had been such a jerk to Sueko and all this time she had liked him. It had kind of been like that with Kagome… except he kept on thinking about Kikyo.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. She's dead, dog-boy! There's no way she's going to come back and still be the same Kagome that you knew. Like I said before, InuYasha, if you could get over Kikyo you can get over Kagome but you have to try! No more of your moaning over one dead girl. Kagome wouldn't want that," said Yoshiko.

"How would you know what Kagome would want?" growled InuYasha.

"Because my little brother wouldn't want me to become depressed because he's dead… and neither would my father," said Yoshiko quietly. "I'm not saying you have to suddenly fall in love with Sueko but… know that you might just break her heart one of these days."

With that the half tiger demon stood up and left the hut, leaving InuYasha very much alone except for Sueko who was still sleeping. He looked down at her thinking how much like Kagome she looked when she slept. Never in his life had he thought that the pain of losing Kagome would ever go away… but maybe Sueko could help him.  
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Sueko sighed. Today was a dull sort of day… though considering the fact that yesterday was so action packed it was okay. But she was so terribly bored.

She was lying on her stomach outside trying to read a book but she wasn't in the mood to read. She was in the mood to go out and do something though there was nothing to do except to wait for Yoshiko to come back. She had left again and took Sueko's sword, saying she wanted to find out more about the sword. Sueko wanted to go with but Yoshiko wouldn't let her, saying she needed to rest. The weirdest thing about it was that InuYasha even agreed to this—having Sueko stay and get better. He was actually caring about her for once. Sueko tried not to think about it too much because then it made her head hurt.

But she was over that silly crush she had on him. Sueko had to be grateful for that. Except for now InuYasha was acting weird today and it was bugging Sueko… it was like he was pretending she wasn't there and then all of a sudden caring about her. It made absolutely no sense!

"Uh… Sueko?"

'Here we go again with the whole "I'm ignoring you and then I care about you!" thing!' thought Sueko.

"What?" she said, not looking up from her book.

"What are you doing?" asked InuYasha.

"Reading." 'What does it look like I'm doing?!'

"But you haven't turned the page for nearly ten minutes."

'From somebody born in the 1500's he sure knows a lot about reading!'

"I'm thinking," replied Sueko.

"Oh."

InuYasha was really annoying Sueko. Couldn't he go back to his normal self? Maybe it was a new moon thing. He's all loopy for a few days and then he gets right back to his normal, arrogant, indifferent, selfish self!

Could a few days come by any quicker?


	9. Yoshiko and Sesshomaru

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Yoshiko fans, here's the post for you! It's all about Yoshiko (basically). And Sesshomaru fans should be happy to because, guess what, he shows up in this one! Wow, so amazing! Why anyone would like someone like Sesshomaru I've got no clue. 

_Ravyn89: Hey, don't diss Sesshomaru! He's cool!_

He's also pure evil. And he doesn't do much. How could you like someone who's pure evil?!

_Ravyn89: Um... I don't know! He's just hot! Now stop saying bad stuff about him!_

:P

**DISCLAIMER**  
We don't own anything that you recognize from the show and manga, InuYasha. However, anything in this fan fic not from the show/manga we _do_ own, along with the plot. Stealers are warned: I could send Agent Paper after you!!!! (Sorry, I just watched _Read or Die_ today. It's some anime movie about, well, agents. The girl can control paper and make it into anything she wants).  
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**Chapter Eight: Yoshiko and Sesshomaru**

Why was it that now that she had experienced the company of others that silence now bothered her? At least with others she could hear the sound of their breathing and their footsteps. Now it was just her, the trees and the few animals that decided to cross her path. Also she had the added weight of Sueko's sword. Yoshiko had been hoping to see an old family friend to see what he knew about the sword. However, the girl wasn't all too willing to let go of her sword.

_"Hell no. I just found out it has special powers. You think I'm giving up this thing?!"_

Yoshiko smiled at the girl's stubbornness… a lot like InuYasha's. This was going to be really difficult for their relationship. Both were going to be so stubborn they'd never get anywhere. But still… InuYasha might be the only one able to keep up with Sueko's wild nature.

Her ears twitched. Footsteps were coming closer… and there was also the sound of armor. About twenty or so bandits were creeping nearer. At least they hadn't thought about surrounding her yet. Obviously they weren't that smart. In a matter of moments they were within her sight, crouching in the bushes to her right… and two were up in the trees.

Yoshiko continued down the path hoping they were realizing she had nothing of value and leave. But then she became conscious of the fact that she _did_ have things of value: two swords and a dagger that supposedly had one of the stones in it. She still wasn't sure of this and was hoping to ask her father's old friend about it.

But at the moment she had to deal with twenty armed bandits who were intent on robbing her, of all people. More accurate, of all half-demons. Didn't they notice that she wasn't just some regular human that would give in easily to even just three bandits? Still the bandits followed behind her keeping as hidden and as silent as they could for being human.

Finally she got tired of the game. In one fluid motion she turned around, pulled out her sword and slashed off the head of the nearest bandit. In the next few seconds four arrows landed in the place where she had once been and fifteen other bandits jumped out of the bushes and attacked her. It took all of her training just to dodge and block all of her attacks. There was no way she was going to be able to escape or destroy them all. Plus the Fire Wave would burn down the trees and keep burning. That was one problem with her special attack. By this time five more dead bandits littered the ground.

Suddenly a sharp pain entered her left shoulder and her arm went numb. It almost seemed like the bandits had become smarter, faster and stronger! Like they had fought with her long enough to figure out _her_ moves and know what she was going to do!

'They aren't human…' Yoshiko thought.

Soon it became more difficult to dodge their attacks and more cuts were appearing on her arms and legs. She managed to kill one more bandit before she was kicked into a tree. Her numbing mind registered the fact that the arrow must have been poisoned because the archers had quite shooting. A bandit tried to cut off her head but she slid to the ground and stared up at them. Before she lost consciousness a man with long silver hair jumped out of the trees, his hazel eyes glittering and chopped down half of the bandits in one swing of his long sword…  
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'Somebody's… singing…'

Her arms felt heavy… except she couldn't even feel her left arms. The cuts down her arms and legs stung but she knew it was from some medicine and not because they were infected. A fluffy pillow supported her head; she lay on a warm blanket and was covered by a soft blanket. She felt the wind rustle through her hair, bringing with it the smell of a young human and three demons. Though it was a bit difficult, Yoshiko opened her eyes slowly and looked up into the brown eyes of a little girl.

"You're awake!" she said, grinning.

"Who are you?" Yoshiko muttered.

"I'm Rin. Lord Sesshomaru saved you from demon bandits!" said the girl, sitting back.

"Who?"

"You don't know Lord Sesshomaru!?" cried Rin, gasping in horror. Yoshiko couldn't help but smile at the animated face the girl had.

"I'm sorry to say I've never heard of this Lord…" said Yoshiko. Her sentence was cut off by a great hacking cough.

The rustle of soft clothing was only signal of another being. She looked up into hazel eyes that reminded her slightly of InuYasha but held none of his softness. But yet this man seemed worried about her. He handed her a steaming cup and helped her sit up.

"This tea should help," he said, his voice deep and unconcerned. But yet his eyes gave him away. For some reason Yoshiko felt a strong desire to be the person to finally soften the handsome face of this man.

"You must be Lord Sesshomaru," breathed Yoshiko, hardly able to speak since her breath had been stolen away by the beauty of this man. She took in the crescent moon on his forehead, his red striped on his cheeks, the red eye shadow and his long silver hair so much like InuYasha's… but silkier. His eyes were far more relaxed than InuYasha's and almost uncaring…

"Just Sesshomaru," he said, looking off into the distance. "You are a worthy fighter. A few years of good training and you might just be as quick as me."

"And to think I was telling InuYasha that _he _needed training. Now you're telling me I, who have been training since I was nine, need training," laughed Yoshiko. Her laugh soon turned into a cough so she took a sip of the tea to stop it.

"But you have never trained with me," said Sesshomaru with a slight smirk. Then he frowned. "You know InuYasha?"

"A little…" shrugged Yoshiko.  
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Sesshomaru stood up and walked away, leaving her with Rin. The little girl was staring at her reverently. This only confused Yoshiko for all that had really happened was that Sesshomaru had given her a compliment… sort of. Then she realized who Sesshomaru is.

"He's InuYasha's brother, isn't he!?" she cried out.

"You would be absolutely correct," said a small frog like demon with a bill for a mouth and carrying a staff twice his height with two heads. "Actually, Lord Sesshomaru is only InuYasha's _half_ brother… a common misconception so you are forgiven."

"You use words bigger than your staff… how do you manage it without falling over?" asked Yoshiko, raising an eyebrow.

The demon just glared at her and then turned away, crossing his arms. She turned to Rin who just shook her head sadly. Yoshiko sighed and sat back, taking another drink of her tea. There was no way she was going to get away any time soon and no way was she going to get any answers. But something kept on nagging at the back of her mind. It wasn't until now, when she actually thought about it, that she figured it out: why was Sesshomaru helping her? If everything she had heard about the dog demon was true he didn't let anybody get close to him. But if this was true how come he was dragging around a little girl? Surely he would have grown bored of her or she would have become troublesome and he would have killed her. If this the demon that so many people feared why did he not kill her now?

"I don't kill unless I have to," said Sesshomaru, breaking into Yoshiko's thoughts.

"Please! You murdered a pack of bandits just so you could try out a new arm!" cried Yoshiko.

"They were the first to happen across me when I had my new arm. They were just bandits. They weren't missed," said Sesshomaru, sitting down at her feet.

She now felt surrounded. To her right was the little girl who was still staring at her with glittering brown eyes. To her left was the frog demon thing that was still not saying anything. Her back was to a tree and Sesshomaru was right in front of her. If she wanted to escape (not to mention if she was in the right shape) there would be no way of doing it. It was instinct to leave an opening for escape no matter what… even if it was her birthday or something.

"Who's the toad?" asked Yoshiko, to change the subject.

The frog demon turned around excitedly and opened his mouth, ready to speak.

"Oh, that's just Jaken," said Rin, shrugging.

"Just! Why you impertinent little child! I still say Sesshomaru should have left you where you were!" cried Jaken.

"Again with the big words. And please don't talk about things I don't know anything about?" yawned Yoshiko.

"Oh, Lord Sesshomaru saved me from death and has taken care of me ever since. Isn't he the greatest? But Jaken thinks that Lord Sesshomaru should have been cruel and left me behind," said Rin.

"That would be far more in character," muttered Yoshiko.

"Jaken," said Sesshomaru. "Warm up her tea."

"Yes sir!" cried Jaken, taking her cup and rushing off toward the fire. Then he paused and turned back around. "You wish me to be a maid for this… this… _half-demon!_ Well I won't do it!"

"This half-demon can still murder you," yawned Yoshiko.

Jaken made a yelping noise like something had caught in his throat and rushed off to warm up the tea. Rin giggled, stood up, and started spinning around. Yoshiko stared at the odd group, just blinking as Sesshomaru examined her two swords carefully. When she realized what she was doing she gasped.

"What are you doing?" cried Yoshiko, making a grab for the swords. Sesshomaru held them just out of reach.

"I'm looking at your weapons of choice. I find it odd that you carry two swords instead of one," said Sesshomaru, unsheathing Sueko's sword. It was glowing a steady blue… a brighter blue than when it had just been Yoshiko around with her dagger.

"What about you? You have two swords," said Yoshiko, starting to sweat. "And according to that sword you have an element stone."

"So this is the sword of the 'Last One,'" said Sesshomaru thoughtfully.

"What do you know about it?" snapped Yoshiko.

"Some," said Sesshomaru, sheathing the sword again and setting it aside. Then he picked up Yoshiko's own sword and unsheathed it. "You carry some unusual swords…"

"The glowing one isn't mine…" muttered Yoshiko.

"Did you steal it?"

"No."

"Borrow it without asking?"

"I can tell you've done this before," sighed Yoshiko. "But no. I borrowed it. That's it. I was hoping to take it to an old family friend who knew quite a bit about swords."

"Totosai?"

"No, he works only with demons. My dad was human," said Yoshiko proudly. "So he went to Totosai's cousin for sword advice."

Sesshomaru looked up as if the word 'human' disgusted him. But Yoshiko didn't doubt that it did. Sesshomaru had never been a human loving demon. In fact he detested InuYasha because his mother had been mortal. But him taking in a little mortal girl and herself was against all Sesshomaru's morals. In fact he was being quite friendly even though she was half human. Before she could say anything about it, though, Jaken returned with another cup of tea and Rin returned from her spinning. Sesshomaru sheathed her sword and set down at her feet then walked away. Before he had gone too far he looked back over his shoulder.

"Tomorrow, if you're up to it, we shall begin your training."

"So you're staying!?" cried Rin.

"I guess so…" muttered Yoshiko.

Suddenly little arms were encircling her neck in a gentle hug. She was a bit shocked by this suddenness but as quickly as it started Rin stepped away. But she was still smiling so Yoshiko knew she hadn't done anything to upset her.

"What's your name?" asked Rin.

"Yoshiko."

"Can I do anything for you Lady Yoshiko?" asked Rin, making Yoshiko laugh.

"Just Yoshiko!"

"How long are you going to stay, Lady Yoshiko?" Rin asked suddenly, frowning.

"I don't know…" murmured Yoshiko.

"I wish you didn't have to go. I never had a mommy…" muttered Rin.

For a minute she stood there sadly, staring at the ground. Then suddenly she looked up grinning and ran off after Sesshomaru, laughing. Yoshiko blinked and turned to Jaken who just shrugged. He was just as confused as she was and he had known the girl longer than her.  
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"You're expecting me to stay still. You have to anticipate where I'm going to move not hope that you'll be quick enough to hit me before I move."

Yoshiko stood, breathing heavily, in the clearing leaning against a tree. Sesshomaru had yet to even draw his sword and hadn't even worked up a sweat yet. Obviously she was going to be here for a very long time before she either died from exhaustion or finally did something that Sesshomaru liked. This had been going on for three days now and still she hadn't come close to hitting him. She knew that not all demons would be as quick as Sesshomaru but it would be nice to have an upper hand in almost all demon attacks. Besides, if InuYasha had taken her advice and trained then fought her again and found out that she still could beat his butt than he would have to train harder. But he would always be one level behind her. That was the only way he would be able to protect Sueko.

Her ears picked up on the sound of rustling clothing and slipped out of the way of another of Sesshomaru's attack, coming away with a scratch on her cheek. She cursed herself and raised her weapon… which was only a stick because Sesshomaru really did think that sooner or later she would be able to hit him.

"Pay attention! Don't let your mind wander," snapped Sesshomaru.

During their three days of training Yoshiko had noticed that Sesshomaru was missing his left arms. She wondered who could have done this and had gotten her answer out of Jaken. InuYasha. It had been his first time fighting with the Tetsusaiga and had happened to cut Sesshomaru's arm off during their battle in their father's tomb.

To gain herself some time Yoshiko jumped backwards into a tree, out of the way of another of Sesshomaru's attacks. She knew he would jump up and try and attack her in the closed space. That was her plan. Sure enough he jumped up and it took all of Yoshiko's training to track his movement.

'He's coming to me right…' thought Yoshiko, aiming a blow at the place where his shoulder would be.

Just when she thought that maybe she had timed her blow wrong she hit something. Yoshiko blinked and looked to the end of her stick. Well she had hit something… the inside of Sesshomaru's hand. She readied herself for Sesshomaru to swing her around and instead of trying to stop it she did what her father told her to do: relax and let her opponent give her an opening. With an ever so slight smile, Sesshomaru tried to break her grip on her weapon. Instead he brought her in closer, allowing her to give him a knee jab into the gut.

She was a bit surprised when her knee made contact and his grip loosened on her stick. So she brought in around for a hit on the head. In its place she found only air and quickly had to jump out of the tree to escape a bone shattering attack from above. She waited patiently as Sesshomaru came at her yet again and dodged that attack as well. Then she came at him swinging her stick widely. He tried to dodge it but she changed directions mid-step and came at him in his new position. She paused within a centimeter distance from his throat.

From behind her she could hear Rin and Jaken clapping. Yoshiko thought the frog demon was brave to try and root for her when Sesshomaru could easily break his neck. But for all of the threats never once did Sesshomaru hurt Jaken so much that it could kill him. Yes he threw rocks at the creature but Yoshiko had had thoughts of throwing rocks at InuYasha.

"That's all for today," said Sesshomaru, walking away to start a fire.

Yoshiko hadn't realized that during their training the sun had started to go down. Exhausted she sat down right where she stood and waited for whatever small morsel of food she would get to eat tonight. Rin ran over grinning ear to ear and gave her a gentle hug around the neck again.

"You were great Lady Yoshiko! I've never seen anybody fight that quickly… except for maybe Lord Sesshomaru," said Rin excitedly, sitting down next to the half-demon.

"I've never fought that quickly before in my life. It's tiring because I'm only half-demon," moaned Yoshiko, lying out so as to stretch her sore muscles.

"But with all the wits and strengths of a full demon!" said Jaken. It was the most he had ever said to her since she had threatened to kill him. She was quite surprised by the compliment.

"And what does Sesshomaru expect to do with me now?" said Yoshiko loudly.

"Let you have an extra hour of sleep and then we start training again," said Sesshomaru. "Jaken, are you going to come cook?"

"Yes my lord!" cried the frog like demon, stumbling over the fire.

"You may have improved but that won't be enough," said Sesshomaru.

"Enough for what?" asked Yoshiko.

"To fight whatever is after you," replied Sesshomaru.

Yoshiko sat up quickly and tried to meet Sesshomaru's eyes. But he was staring off into the distance as if in deep thought. Rin gasped dramatically and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Who would be after you, Lady Yoshiko?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"They're probably not after me but after the sword," muttered Yoshiko.

"Which sword?" asked Sesshomaru.

"Well either one. It could be mine because they believe because it had elemental powers it must have one of the elemental stones. Same with my dagger," said Yoshiko but she didn't really believe this. "Or they could be after the blue one because it belongs to Sueko… who is most definitely the protector of the Spirit Shrine."

"You know the 'Last One?'" said Sesshomaru, his eyes finally meeting hers. Like every time he looked at her she found herself unable to speak for a few seconds. Then she caught her breath.

"I think she's the 'Last One,'" replied Yoshiko, looking away. "I've only known her for a little bit but she's done some amazing things like kill a spider demon without even trying. And tapping into the elemental powers and suddenly being able to do the Wind Scar like InuYasha. Hope she can wield it better than InuYasha because he couldn't even kill a simple snake demon with the Wind Scar."

"She travels with InuYasha?" inquired Sesshomaru.

"Yeah. Why do you care?" asked Yoshiko.

"That'll make things difficult…" muttered Sesshomaru more to himself than to anyone else.

Before Yoshiko could ask anything else Jaken ran over with a cup of tea for her. Then he was off again to cook dinner. Rin left as well to help because it was only her and Yoshiko that ate. Either the others didn't eat or they preferred to eat something they wouldn't enjoy. Yoshiko was contemplating whether to inquire further about Sesshomaru's interest in the 'Last One' and InuYasha but he decided to give her answers anyways.

"I want to get InuYasha's sword. That was the only reason I ran into you when I did. Jaken and I were following InuYasha's trail and happened across you. My hope was that you would be willing to help me… but I guess not," said Sesshomaru.

"So what are you going to do with me?" asked Yoshiko disappointed that things had come to this. It had been nice staying with Sesshomaru. She could make fun of Jaken and have a few laughs with Rin. She had somebody who looked up to and a way of getting stronger. Sure she didn't get a lot of sleep or food but it still was enjoyable.

"You've never been my prisoner. You have been able to leave at anytime you like. Now you may stay or you may leave to warn your friends. It's your choice," shrugged Sesshomaru.

"You seriously are nothing like the Sesshomaru I heard about from my aunt," said Yoshiko.

"Your aunt would be…" started Sesshomaru.

"A tiger demon. I staid with them for a little so I could train with my sword. But as you could guess I wasn't very welcome so I left," growled Yoshiko under her breath.

"They were probably frightened of you. Tiger demons are powerful but they aren't the strongest demons ever. They rely on magic to help them," said Sesshomaru. "Probably the tiger demons realized that you were both strong and powerful and didn't wish for you to destroy them. Your human half has made you very respectable unlike another half-demon that I could mention."

Yoshiko blinked. It was the first time anybody had ever told her that her human side made her stronger. Yes she enjoyed being half human and embraced it but as far as she knew it was only a weakness. Every half moon she became mortal. She went by her human emotions instead of her brain. She let herself become attached to humans and when she lost them her emotions went on the fritz. Why was it that Sesshomaru, who hated mortals steadily, was saying her human half made her… respectable?

'He's probably just trying to butter me up so I'll help him! Well he's got another thing coming. How come my heart feels like it's going faster than a river in the spring?'

"The more you say the more I think that maybe you're an imposter," said Yoshiko, attempting a joke.

"What's your choice?"

'Great. He wants an answer _now!_' thought Yoshiko. 'But what about Rin?'

"I would love to stay but… Sueko's probably worried about me and if I show up with you my friend's will probably think that they were right about me in the first place: I'm just an evil demon," sighed Yoshiko. "And I'm not going to let you hurt any of my friends either. I can't stop you from trying to get InuYasha's sword but…"

"You're correct in your hypothesis that you would be unable to stop Lord Sesshomaru because when he wants something he's going to get it!" said Jaken, handing her a plate of food. She was surprised to see extra food on it than before. "But I don't see why you would want to leave to go see people who think you're an evil demon."

"Lady Yoshiko, are you leaving?" cried Rin.

'Oh no! She's going to make me wish I hadn't even thought about leaving! Damn, why do I have to have a soft spot for little kids?!'

"If we're lucky she'll come back," said Sesshomaru, walking away.

As she watched him walk away Yoshiko felt as if her insides had suddenly sunk through the ground. Where her heart had been racing away like a strong horse now it was frozen like water in the mountains during winter. His words echoed in her mind but still she could not seem to defrost her heart.

'What is going on?'

"You'll come back, right?" said Rin, tears in her eyes.

"I promise that if I can, I'll come back," said Yoshiko, standing up and retrieving her possessions. 'Why won't this feeling go away?'  
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In the end Yoshiko left around midnight and met up with the others in the same small hut that she had left them in. Their excuse was that Sueko and InuYasha were still healing. Yoshiko knew it was so she would be able to find them to give Sueko her sword back. She tried desperately to push Sesshomaru out of her mind but she had to tell the others he meant to attack. But whenever she thought about him she felt like drowning herself in a lake. Sueko tried to get her to rest but no sleep would come to Yoshiko. Finally the girl asked what was wrong.

"Nothing…" muttered Yoshiko.

"You're all pale, you're not eating, you're not sleeping and you can't seem to look anybody in the eye! Besides you haven't spoken more than two words to us and you keep on looking off in the distance and sighing!" Sueko half shouted. "If I didn't know any better I would say you would have fallen in love."

Her eyes went wide. Fallen in love? With who? Surely not with Miroku or InuYasha. And even so, they were all ready taken. That only left Sesshomaru then but…

'Well it would kind of explain a whole lot,' thought Yoshiko. Suddenly somebody hit her on the head.

"You were doing it again!" cried Sueko, raising her fist warningly. "And don't you dare bring me up to try and change the subject!"

Yoshiko shook her head and rolled her eyes. There was no way she could bring up Sesshomaru without also giving up the fact that he was going to come and attack to try and get InuYasha's sword. Then there would be chaos like never seen before. Besides, how did she know they would suddenly not be her friends? It had been hard business getting them to trust her.

"_They were probably frightened of you."_

Sesshomaru's voice echoed in her head yet again, his simple words seeming to have meanings for everything. Maybe she should have just staid. The only one who accepted her here was Sueko. But yet again, Sueko is more important than a little girl who all ready had a protector.

"God damn it! Are you going to pay attention to me or not?" shouted Sueko, hitting Yoshiko on the head again. "Now spill. Who is it? InuYasha?"

This made Yoshiko laugh.

"Fine, some village guy?" snapped Sueko, rolling her eyes.

"Villages in general are frightened of me," said Yoshiko, her thoughts wandering back to Sesshomaru's words.

"Then who the hell is it then!?" cried Sueko.

Yoshiko hesitated but finally sighed and relented.

"Okay, on my way to find out info on your sword these bandits attacked. Except they're not human. I get injured pretty badly but then this guy with long silvery hair and bright hazel eyes saves me. When I wake up I find out that this guy is a demon. And not just any demon, but Sesshomaru InuYasha's half brother. They're not exactly a close family to put it mildly. Well he acts nothing like the Sesshomaru I've heard about. He isn't cruel at all and he's even taking care of a little girl that he supposedly saved from death. To top it off he decided to train me so I could become quicker and stronger with my sword. In other words I never found out anything about your sword. But just today I found out that he wants to attack InuYasha for his sword and he gave me the choice of either staying with him or warning you guys."

"This is the guy you've fallen in love with," said Sueko, blinking.

"How the hell would I know!? I only met the guy a few days ago!" cried Yoshiko.

"But you keep on thinking about him, right? When you look off in the distance?" said Sueko.

"I guess…" muttered Yoshiko.

"Well get over him now!" snapped Sueko. "I am not going to let my best friend fall in love with a jerk like that!"

"He is not a jerk! I thought I just said that!" cried Yoshiko.

"Well he's hurt InuYasha in the past. I should know. Miroku just warned me about him a few days ago," said Sueko stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"InuYasha is able to hold his own against Sesshomaru. He cut off the guys left arm!" shouted Yoshiko, getting to her feet. Sueko did the same.

"He still almost killed InuYasha. Besides, he's coming to try and kill InuYasha again! Do you think I'm going to let you be in love with that kind of jerk?" screamed Sueko.

Yoshiko stood their fuming. She had hoped that Sueko would understand. She wanted to slap the girl, bring her back to her senses. But then she realized she needed to be slapped. Besides, Sango, Miroku, Shippo and InuYasha were all staring at the two girls from the doorway of the hut.

"I didn't have to come back you know! I could have just let it all have been a surprise," hissed Yoshiko, her eyes narrowing.

"What have been a surprise?" snapped InuYasha. "Where have you been?"

"I've been training with Sesshomaru," said Yoshiko, staring him straight into the eyes.

"WHAT!?" cried InuYasha, leaping forward and stepping between Sueko and Yoshiko. "You've been in league with him all along! This is some scheme to get the Tetsusaiga!"

"No, I only just met Sesshomaru a few days ago. But he is trying to steal your sword. I bet you feel just so special, InuYasha," sighed Yoshiko.

"_If we're lucky she'll come back."_

"And you know what? Since I'm not at all welcome here I could always go back. I'm sure Rin would be very happy to see me," hissed Yoshiko, sounding more and more like a cat.

"Is Rin the little girl?" asked Sueko.

"Glad to know you were listening to some of it!" snapped Yoshiko.

"I listened to all of it but I still don't like it!" shouted Sueko.

By now everybody had given up with sleep and had joined everybody outside. Sango was ready for battle and Miroku was trying to get Sueko to step back. Shippo had… well gone back into the hut to hide. InuYasha stood between the half tiger demon and Sueko while Yoshiko glared at the girl.

"Am I interrupting something?" came a familiar voice.

Yoshiko felt her heart rise and then go back on its mad race. She turned to see Sesshomaru coming out of the trees. InuYasha forgot Yoshiko entirely, turned to his half brother and drew his sword. Sueko gasped when she realized that her sword was still in the hut. But being the stupid girl that she was she decided to yell as Sesshomaru first.

"Who are you?"

"That would be 'the jerk,'" snapped Yoshiko.

"Oh, are you going to start that all over again! I'm sorry that I'm not all that trusting!" shouted Sueko.

"You trusted me right away!" cried Yoshiko.

"Well you hadn't tried to kill anyone!" yelled Sueko.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" screamed Yoshiko.

Her mind raced back to the first time she had ever tried to kill. She had been around ten, her father had died a few days ago and the villagers wanted her out. So they attacked. In an attempt to save herself she had hurt quite a few of them. Godric had known it was out of self-defense but… he had still made her leave. She may not kill without reason but she had killed. And plenty of times, too.

"Much luck coming back to warn them did," noted Sesshomaru.

"You stay out of this!" snapped Yoshiko.

"Maybe I should come back another time. I would hate to break up this argument," said Sesshomaru.

"Oh how thoughtful of you!" said Sueko sarcastically. "But how about you just don't ever come back!?"

"But if I didn't come back Rin would never see Yoshiko again," said Sesshomaru.

"Rin?" said Sango.

"Yeah, the little girl that Sesshomaru saved from death," said Yoshiko.

Sueko closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if trying to calm down. Then she did this about nine more times, making InuYasha roll his eyes at her. But once Sueko was done with her breathing, she opened her eyes and wore a calm expression.

"Look, you won't get the Tetsusaiga, so there's no point in lingering," she said, turning towards Sesshomaru. "So I suggested you go back to wherever you came from before you regret it."

It was hard to read Sesshomaru's expression, but he said after a moments pause, "You think a mortal like you is going to be able to stop me?"

Sueko crossed her arms and smirked. Her expression seemed out of character—almost… cocky? Then her eyes, which Yoshiko had always been able to read but now could not, darted the ground, searching for something… they stopped on Sango's sword, which was in its sheath and was leaning against the hut's outer wall. Before anyone could stop her Sueko rushed over to the sheath and yanked the sword out of it with only a few seconds worth of effort then walked right over to Sesshomaru, sword held out in front of her and this mad look in her eye that Yoshiko was finally able to read.

"Sueko!" cried InuYasha, reaching out to stop Sueko. But it was like she was in some sort of trance or something and completely ignored InuYasha. Standing right in front of Sesshomaru Sueko clenched her teeth and glared.

Sesshomaru's lip curled slightly. "You're quite as annoying as InuYasha's last wench. Have you fallen in love with this one too?" he asked, looking over to his half brother.

"Don't talk about Kagome!" roared InuYasha.

"So you haven't quite gotten over her yet," observed Sesshomaru.

"SHUT UP!!!" bellowed Sueko. And suddenly she swung her sword with all her might at Sesshomaru. If he wasn't so quick and hadn't stepped back the sword's blade would have gone right through his gut.

It was like someone had turned the sound off. There was suddenly a silence as Sueko stood there looking shocked at the fact her attack did nothing. She looked so amazed at Sesshomaru's quickness… and suddenly terrified.

"I told you," said Sesshomaru calmly. "No mortal can defeat me."

It looked as though Sueko was still being her stubborn self as she ignored Sesshomaru's comment and swung the sword again. He dodged it, the attack only ruffling his clothes with its motion. This only made her growl in frustration and clench her teeth again. Sueko swung the sword again… and again… and again. Each time she missed it only made her angrier.

Sighing, InuYasha walked over to Sueko, almost calmly, and grabbed the sword from her as she tried to slice Sesshomaru open again. She struggled to keep hold of it but InuYasha managed to yank the thing out of her grasp and fling it to the ground. In response to Sueko's almost hurtful expression he said in disgust, "You can't harm him, so give it up before you kill yourself!"

"What in the hell did you do that for?!" cried Sueko.

InuYasha hesitated. Yoshiko eyes widened, wanting to know what InuYasha would say. But finally he spoke—no, practically cried out—"Because I don't want to see you get hurt!"

Sueko looked taken aback at this statement and that silence returned, though this one had a hint of awkwardness attached to it. However, a few minutes later Sueko managed to stutter, "W—what are you talking about?" in this quite voice that didn't seem to belong to her.

Silence again. The lack of noise was starting to annoy Yoshiko. She was grateful when Miroku spoke.

"There isn't time for this!" he cried out, speaking at last.

Sesshomaru looked from Sueko to InuYasha who were both trying their damnedest not to look at each other—or anyone, actually—and were pretending that the feelings that they were experiencing weren't really occurring. But finally, after what seemed like forever, Sesshomaru spoke in that low voice of his that made Yoshiko's heart beat faster and faster.

"You always had a weakness for mortal woman…" he said calmly, as usual, "just like our dear father."

And before InuYasha could say something to that, Sesshomaru took his sword and swung it gracefully at Sueko.

"Sueko!" InuYasha cried out again, dropping to his knees and catching Sueko's falling form. She had, by the looks of it, just been stabbed just below the ribs, and the wound was bleeding steadily. Yoshiko could tell that Sueko was trying her hardest to look like the pain was not bothering her but it was—a lot.

"I could kill the wench or you could give me the Tetsusaiga," said Sesshomaru coolly. "It's your choice."

"You—you!" stammered InuYasha who couldn't find the perfect insult with his rage. "You _bastard_!" InuYasha laid Sueko down on the ground quickly and gently and stood up so he was face-to-face with his older half brother, their noses only a couple inches apart. His face was full of hate as he growled, "You'll _never_ get my sword and if you know any better you'll _never_ harm Sueko again and _never_ come near her—_ever!_ Now leave…. NOW!"

Sesshomaru wasn't at all startled by InuYasha's yelling; he looked only bored. "I tire of watching you morn over your wench. Perhaps I'll show up again someday—and that time I _will_ get Tetsusaiga."

Then he turned around—he spun around so gracefully it made Yoshiko's heart quicken yet again in it's pace—and took a few steps before pausing and turning back around. He looked Yoshiko straight in the face and said, "Are you coming back, or staying?"

Yoshiko bit her lip as she felt everyone's gaze fall to her. She wanted to go back to Sesshomaru and be able to see Rin again, but she couldn't leave _now_, not when Sueko had gotten injured. Though she was foolish enough to have gotten in the way Yoshiko wished Sesshomaru hadn't been so drastic and used his sword on her.

So, keeping her eyes glued to her feet, she spoke quietly, "I—I have to stay."

"Well enough," said Sesshomaru. Yoshiko looked up at him. Yet again as much as she tried she couldn't read those hazel eyes of his. She watched sadly as he turned back around and walked away, disappearing in the trees of the forest.

A low, quiet moan made everyone turn to Sueko, who had her eyes clenched shut. Yoshiko became quite aware of just how much blood was coming out of that cut. InuYasha seemed to have made the same realization as he effortlessly picked up Sueko and carried her over to the hut.

Yoshiko, suddenly realizing just how tired she was, went back into the hut, as did Miroku and Shippo. Though Yoshiko paused when she reached the doorway of the hut. Turning around, she saw Sango standing and looking down at her sword. Yoshiko didn't know for sure what Sango was thinking, but she had an idea.

Sueko was such a stubborn little girl. She had tried so hard to give Sesshomaru just one messily little scratch, and all she got of her efforts was her own injury. It was hard for Yoshiko to not feel pity for the girl. She had a feeling Sango felt the same.

Sango bent down and grasped the sword's hilt and managed to slip it back into its sheath. Yoshiko turned back around and went into the hut, it's flap waving slightly before becoming deadly still.


	10. An Old Friend

**DISCLAIMER**  
Um… what's the point? You people know we don't own InuYasha…

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Okay, I thought this update sucked but Ravyn says it's really good (I wrote the whole thing since she was gone). So whatever. Just enjoy reading the damn thing!  
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**Chapter Nine: An Old Friend**

Three weeks passed, though the gang never exactly got a break on any of those twenty-one days. Demons kept coming and coming, attacking the group for one reason and one reason only: they wanted Sueko. Except for the ogre on the new moon, every single demon apparently wanted the Last One's power. When the half moon occurred again they weren't even after Yoshiko. No one could drop their guard down for one second because a demon could pop out of the bushes any second and attempt to kidnap Sueko.

She found this so very tiring, but Sueko figured this is what she got for being the protector of the Spirit Shrine. Though why _was_ everyone after her? Why would they want the protector of the Spirit Shrine—maybe for power, but what sort of power? Sueko wished Myoga knew everything about it when he explained it to her when she first showed up. It was so annoying not knowing. But at least the demons that were attacking were all lesser demons, which could be defeated pretty easily. Sueko managed to tackle a few of them by herself. Yoshiko said she was really progressing with her sword skills, but Sueko wanted to do cool things with her sword like she did on the new moon. Not that she remembered what had happened that well. What she did remember was pretty cool though.

In three weeks Sueko was completely recovered from Sesshomaru stabbing her, but that didn't mean in three weeks she had calmed down about him. She still couldn't believe Yoshiko was in love with him. How could she possibly fall in love with the enemy?! And Sueko could not easily forgive Sesshomaru for stabbing her.

She also couldn't forget InuYasha. The way he had reacted…it was so peculiar. He had cared about her so much it was as though…

'No. That's impossible! There was no way in hell InuYasha…Ha! What a ridiculous thought!' Sueko shook her head and tried not to laugh out loud. She was just thinking it over too much. It was nothing. InuYasha cared about her because he liked her…as a friend.

She couldn't help smile at the memory of how nice he had been to her that night she had gotten injured by Sesshomaru, and she was thankful she was alone. Sueko had decided to go for a walk—not very far, just to be alone. Of course, the group wasn't happy with Sueko going out on her own, but Sueko could actually use a sword now so they let her go, none-of-the-less.

Though now she was wishing for some company. She did want to be alone for a while to think, since she hadn't really been by herself for a while, but now Sueko wasn't really quite sure where she was.

There's one problem about the forest. The trees are pretty and all; the air is fresh, its peaceful and quiet and no one around for miles. But everything looked exactly the same. At least in a city the buildings were different and there were signs and people to help you go to the right direction.

Sueko sighed and looked around. It was almost dark out; the sun was starting to set, making the sky become sprayed with pinks and oranges. The clouds took weird forms and Sueko paused for a moment trying to decipher their shapes. It sort of looked like a dragon, but if you tilted your head to the side, one of the clouds also looked like a dog. A dog with very large fangs…no, maybe it was a wolf…yeah, a wolf made more sense…

A loud noise stopped Sueko's thoughts and made her senses suddenly alert. It sounded like thunder at first, but listening closely it sounded more like a very strong wind—but it wasn't windy! Sueko pulled out her sword, waiting for whatever was making that noise to show up.

_It_ finally showed itself. It wasn't a monstrous fire-breathing dragon as Sueko imagined it would be. Instead it was…a dust devil? A miniature tornado was spinning around, in a forest…Sueko blinked a few times, wondering if she was seeing things correctly. But no she was…It was darting towards her rapidly, dodging the trees quickly and swiftly. Sueko just stood there, sword out, completely still, not sure of what she should do.

Fortunately, the little funnel of wind suddenly stopped right in front of her, and when it did the wind-thing disappeared and turned into a boy. He looked about Sueko's age, with slick, long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wasn't wearing much in Sueko's opinion…it was mostly brown fur: a grayish shirt that sort of looked a bit like armor, though she wasn't sure, and what looked like shorts made of that brown fur. He had fur wristbands (one longer then the other for some reason), a fur headband, and two to cover his legs from his knee to his ankle. With bright blue eyes and tan skin he was very attractive. The boy looked almost human, though Sueko knew he wasn't because of the whole wind-thing and the fact that he had a furry tail the same color brown as his outfit.

"What's a lovely lady such as yourself doing out here all by her lonesome?" the boy asked with a grin that made Sueko's cheeks turn pink. His voice sounded so handsome that it made Sueko's spin tingle…in the good way.

"Well," said Sueko, trying to find her voice. But now she was talking rather high-pitched. "Erm…I'm…uh…lost…"

"You certainly look lost," the boy said, raising an eyebrow.

Sueko looked down at her sword. She still had it drawn out. With a sort of girlish giggle that made Sueko's cheeks turn redder with embarrassment, she clumsily put her sword away. Then, watching the boy's tail flick around like a dogs' tail typically does, she had to ask, "So, what are you? A dog demon?"

The boy laughed. "_Me_, a ruddy mutt? Nah, I'm wolf."

So he's not some long-lost relative of InuYasha. Not that he would be. Wouldn't he have to be white instead of brown, anyways?

"Oh," said Sueko. Why was she thinking that the fact that he was wolf instead of dog was better? Why was it better? And would she stop blushing?!

"Um…" Sueko tried to find something to say. All she could think of was a, "So, why are you here?" so she said that.

The boy smiled slyly, making Sueko feel slightly light-headed. "I'm just looking for a certain lady to check up on her and see if that mutt-faced boyfriend of hers is treating her alright." A sudden image of InuYasha popped into Sueko's head but she doubt this boy knew him.

"You don't like dogs, do you?" asked Sueko in a depressed way. 'Great. He's taken. Wait, why do I care?!'

"Not that flea bag," said the boy dryly, crossing his arms. "But enough about me. What's a beautiful maiden such as you doing around here all alone? It's dangerous around here."

Sueko turned brick red, but tried to act casual like really hot guys talked to her in the middle of no where all the time. "W—what about you? Y—you—you're alone."

"No I'm not," said the boy coolly. "I'm just so fast my friends can't keep up with me."

Judging by how fast that little wind tunnel he was earlier was traveling, Sueko didn't doubt that.

"Well," said Sueko, trying to answer the boy's question (if she could only just talk normally again!), "I was just taking a walk, so I could just be alone for a little while to think, you know? But…well…my direction sense really stinks so then I got lost, and I really can't find my way, but I think maybe everyone else is over there so maybe I'll just—"

Sueko really wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole—or maybe just a giant demon come out of the ground and swallow her—because she really didn't want to be _here_. If it were possible to die from embarrassment, Sueko would be long gone.

However, her babbling session was interrupted by the sounds of a group of people panting for breath. Sueko stopped talking and turned around—so did the boy with all the fur—and saw two guys who looked like they had been running for so long that they were exhausted since they were barely walking. They looked like they would be wolf demons too (it helped that a pack of actual wolves surrounded them) but were not attractive whatsoever. Sueko nearly laughed at the sight of their hairstyles—one had a Mohawk!

"Koga!" the one with the Mohawk cried between gasps for breath. "Could you slow down just a bit?"

"I've been looking for nearly a month and I can't find her!" growled the boy who Sueko guessed was named Koga.

"Hey, we care about her well-being too," said the one without a Mohawk, "but we can't go as fast as you."

"Hmm," said Koga, looking tired.

The Mohawk-dude suddenly noticed Sueko. "Who do you have here, Koga!"

The Mohawk-less-dude looked too and, when seeing Sueko, made a long, low whistle. Sueko turned crimson.

"I never did get your name," said Koga. "But I never gave you mine either. Koga's the name, and this is Ginta—" the Mohawk-less one nodded a head—"and that's Hakkaku—" he waved a hand at Mr. Mohawk, who gave a little wave.

"Um…I'm Sueko," said Sueko, smiling shyly.

"Sueko…" said Koga, pausing to think. "Have we met?"

"No." 'I think I would remember meeting you,' Sueko couldn't help thinking.

"Maybe I've just heard the name before."

'Maybe because I'm the Last One, the protector of the Spirit Shrine, the girl that everyone's after!?!' thought Sueko. "Yeah. Maybe…" was all she said, though.

"Alright…well, didn't you say you were lost?" asked Koga.

"Erm…yeah…"

"Okay, then let's find your home!" said Koga.

"So she isn't yours?" Ginta asked suddenly.

Sueko raised her eyebrows. 'What on earth is he talking about?'

"Of course not!" cried Koga. "Don't tell me you've been traveling with me all this time and you don't know—"

"Oh, right, sorry," said Ginta sheepishly.

Sueko shook her head in confusion. "Well, um…I did come from over there," she said in a helpful sort of way, pointing towards the left.

So that's where they went. Sueko felt as though she was dreaming: she was walking in the woods with a pack of wolves and a really hot guy that she thought she was slowly but surely falling in love with. There was just something about him…Sueko couldn't help it. She was madly in love with Koga. It was so obvious even she could tell. He made her heart race, her mind empty of all rational thought, made the palms of her hands go sweaty, made her giggle in a foolish way over the silliest of things, made her stomach do a weird sort of flop whenever he said her name…Sueko was making such a fool out of herself she wondered why Koga was even bothering helping her find her way back to InuYasha and the others, but maybe he was just being polite. And as soon as she found her way he'd drop her like a rock and leave her, never to see her ever again.

The thought depressed Sueko, so she tried not to think about it.

But what about this girl he kept mentioning? Apparently she was with some dog demon by the sounds of it. The only dog demons she knew or heard of was InuYasha and Sesshomaru. Sueko was pretty sure Koga wasn't talking about Rin (she was a little young for him) and InuYasha wasn't hanging around any girls except for her and Sango. Sango really didn't seem like Koga's type, so it wasn't her…but whoever this girl was Sueko was mad with envy for her. She must be lucky to be with a guy like Koga…

Actually, by the sounds of it she wasn't with him. Whatever. This was all really confusing…

And Sueko was pretty sure she wasn't dreaming. She had already pinched herself—hard—and judging by the pain it caused it had to be reality.

Sueko didn't want her walk with Koga and his wolf demon friends to end, but it did. They walked out of the woods and right into the camp that Sueko's friends were at. As soon as Sueko spotted the camp she could hear Koga growl in what seemed like annoyance.

"Where's Kagome?" Koga hollered, walking straight over to InuYasha, who was leaning against a tree and watching Shippo play with Sueko's Gameboy.

InuYasha looked up and leaped to his feet when he noticed Koga standing there. He didn't say anything, just crossed his arms and glared.

"What are you talking about?" cried Sueko, rushing over to Koga.

InuYasha looked over at Sueko, who was now standing in between him and Koga. "What are you doing with _him_?!" he shouted at her.

"I got lost and ran into him, if you must know," said Sueko, crossing her arms.

Koga ignored Sueko—much to her disappointment—and continued as if she had not interrupted. "I don't see her! Where's Kagome?!" Koga roared.

InuYasha clenched his teeth. Sueko noticed that his hand was just twitching to grab the Tetsusaiga and slice Koga to bits, but he hadn't attacked yet.

"Kagome?" said Sueko. "You knew Kagome too?"

"She was _my_ woman!" cried Koga.

"She was _not_!" yelled InuYasha.

"What would you know, mutt face?"

"Oh, shut up! Kagome's not here, so go take your stupid wolf-friends and leave!" roared InuYasha.

"Not without seeing Kagome!" cried Koga.

"She's not here!"

"Then tell me where she is, you flea-bag!"

InuYasha closed his eyes. Sueko couldn't tell if it was with frustration or grief. After all, Kagome wasn't here—she was dead. Sueko wasn't sure if she should just say it for InuYasha or let him say it, but the silence afterwards was deafening.

But then he spoke. Keeping his eyes clenched together, InuYasha said in barely a whisper, "She's dead."

Koga blinked. "What?"

"Can't you hear?" cried InuYasha. "Have you suddenly gone death? She's gone! She's never coming back! Kagome's DEAD!"

"What?" cried Koga—though this time with rage. "How could you let her get killed?!"

"I didn't let her get killed!" screamed InuYasha.

"Well, what else are you supposed to call it? She's not exactly here anymore, now is she?"

Sueko did the only thing she could think of to make the two shut up. She hit them aside the head.

"WHAT?" bellowed InuYasha, glaring at Sueko.

"Grow up, you two!" said Sueko. "Kagome got killed by Naraku. It's nobody's fault. So get a life and stop yelling at each other!"

"They won't stop yelling at each other," said Shippo (he was suddenly standing at Sueko's feet). "They do that every time they see each other."

"Stay out of this!" InuYasha said to Shippo. Then he got hit aside the head again, though not by Sueko. Yoshiko was standing behind InuYasha, her hand in a fist.

Koga, noticing Yoshiko, raised his eyebrows at her, but before he could actually say something Yoshiko hit him on the head too.

"Don't even think about it!" Yoshiko said, pointing a clawed finger at Koga in a threatening way. Though Sueko got the impression that Koga didn't find it threatening. Not threatening at all, by the expression he was wearing.

Sueko's chances of ever calling Koga her boyfriend were becoming lower and lower by the second. But now she really didn't care…

"How do you two know each other, anyways?" asked Yoshiko, giving Koga and InuYasha both a suspicious look as though she was looking for the guilty party for a certain crime.

Shippo was the one to answer the question in cheerful tones at Sueko's feet. "Koga kidnapped Kagome and then fell in love with her, and InuYasha and Koga have been running into each other and arguing ever since."

Yoshiko smiled ever so slightly, and then the next second she was hitting both Koga and InuYasha aside the head again.

"What was THAT for?!" growled InuYasha, spinning around to face Yoshiko.

"The two of you are _pathetic_!" spat Yoshiko. "Fighting over some girl…you two sicken me!"

There was a pause. Koga looked as though he was doing some deep thinking, and as for InuYasha, he had that far away look on his face. He also looked gloomy, as if he was thinking of Kagome, which just made Sueko's heart sink, seeing him so sad.

"Well," said Koga suddenly. "There's no use on mourning over some dead girl. Especially when there's so many other fishes in the sea," he added, glancing over at Yoshiko.

Yoshiko might have hit him aside the head again—she didn't seem like the type to give into such flirting—if it wasn't for InuYasha who roared at Koga, "What do you mean, some dead girl? Kagome died and you don't even _care_?"

"I'm not about to mope around about it," said Koga, "but I suppose you've been doing just that for—how long has she been dead for?"

"Two and a half months," said Sueko tonelessly.

Koga raised one eyebrow and gave a satisfied sort of look at InuYasha, who was looking indifferent again.

"What you want isn't here," InuYasha said suddenly, his voice indistinct. "So how about you leave."

"How about _not_," said Koga with a smirk.

Unexpectedly, Sueko unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Koga. Startled, he took a step or two back, raising an eyebrow at the blade. He wasn't nervous, just surprised.

"Sueko…?" one of them said, though Sueko didn't figure out who it was. She was staring at Koga with her eyes narrowed.

"You heard him!" she cried out, shoving the sword closer to Koga's neck (making him step a little to the left, almost bumping into Yoshiko, who gave him such a fierce glare that he just stepped back to where he had been). "Leave!"

Koga grinned, and then held his arms up in a surrendering way. "I know when I'm not wanted. But I will return—someday," he added, glancing over at Yoshiko.

She pulled out her dagger and pointed it at Koga. "Not if I can help it!" she hissed.

It was when Koga and his wolf demon friends finally departed that InuYasha said, "Sueko, you still have your sword out."

And so she did. Sueko shoved the thing back into its sheath and looked back up at InuYasha to see that he wasn't there. Looking around, she saw him walking away, towards the forest.

"InuYasha!" cried Sueko, walking over towards him. But he ignored her and continued walking.

"InuYasha!" she tired again, but no matter how many times she called his name he still pretended that she wasn't there.

They were far into the forest by the time Sueko had just about given up. Sueko couldn't think of anything to make InuYasha stop walking away from her. Well, there was one thing she could do…

"I hate to do this, InuYasha, but you've left me no choice!" Sueko called out.

She stopped walking and crossed her arms. In the distance she could hear InuYasha mutter, "Feh!"

With a mischievous grin on her face, she cried out, "SIT, BOY!"

"YOU LITTLE WENCH!" InuYasha bellowed as he crashed to the forest floor.

Sueko ran over to him and sat down near his head so she could see his face. "Like there was anything else I could do to make you stop!"

"Are you blind? Can't you tell when someone wants to be _alone_?" snapped InuYasha.

"Maybe being alone isn't the best thing for you right now," said Sueko simply.

The spell wore off but InuYasha didn't get up; he just crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. "What would you know?" he muttered glumly.

"Not much," Sueko admitted, "but you have been alone for quite a long time. Maybe you just need some company."

"Hmm…" was all InuYasha said. The expression on his face was the one he wore when you could tell something was eating him up inside but he tried to look as though it was nothing. Though Sueko knew it wasn't just nothing…it was something…

It was funny…thirty minutes ago Sueko was all-giggles in front of Koga, but as quickly as her "crush" had gone on for it had ended, once Sueko had realized how much of a jerk he was. But now, with InuYasha looking as hurt as he did right now, Sueko just wanted to hug him in a tight embrace and hope to God he would never leave her. She knew exactly what she felt about Koga, but was totally clueless as to what she felt about InuYasha. It was a feeling she couldn't put her finger on…

"Well," said Sueko quietly after a while of silence, "I can't make you get over Kagome. I can only help."

"Who says I'm not over Kagome?" InuYasha growled.

"Well—I—" stammered Sueko.

"Wait," said InuYasha, quieting Sueko. "I—I didn't mean it that way…It's just…" InuYasha got off his stomach and sat up, leaning with his hands out behind him and looking at the ground. "It's just…She just won't get out of my head! She's all I ever think about…all I ever see in my sleep…"

Sueko was quiet. InuYasha must have cared a lot about Kagome to feel so hurt about her death. Sueko had a very strange thought that if she ever died he wouldn't care about her as much as he did about Kagome, and that thought _hurt_, hurt _a lot_, like someone had stabbed Sueko in the heart. Though no ghostly knife was in sight.

"Let's go back to the others," said Sueko suddenly, standing up.

"Huh?"

"They're probably worried about where we've run off to," said Sueko, putting on a fake smile.

"Uh…yeah…you're probably right," said InuYasha distractedly, standing up.

So the two went back to camp, walking side-by-side.


	11. Kagome

**DISCLAIMER**

I don't own InuYasha! Shut up about it and leave me alone! cowers

AUTHOR'S NOTES 

Okay, I worked hard on this post. It is my pride and joy. Don't crush my bubble by saying it sucks! Okay, I'm just being hyper. I don't care if you have valued criticism. Besides, no one replies to this fan fic! laughs The Pepsi made me all hyper, sorry if I'm freaking you out. But anyways, TADA!

PS: Unless someone replies to this fan fic I will not post another post. And I mean it!  
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**Chapter Ten: Kagome**

_Their footsteps echoed through the darkened hall, searching for a light of any kind. It was a trap; there was no doubt about that. But as they walked and searched only one thought crossed InuYasha's mind: _Kikyo_. Why was it that she had sacrificed herself to Naraku to save him right after stealing the Shikon Jewel from Kagome? Was it that she still loved InuYasha and didn't appreciate him loving Kagome or…was it something more? Did Kikyo have another plan?_

_They had lost Sango and Miroku along the way but did not notice. Kagome kept close to InuYasha but still saw the slowly growing glow of the Shikon Jewel at the far end of the castle. Even though it was dark InuYasha could see the determined look in her eyes that told him that, despite his wishes, she wasn't going to keep quiet. Finally they reached the doorway that Kagome could sense the Jewel in. InuYasha stopped and turned to her._

"_No matter what I want to stay quiet and hidden. Get the Jewel then get out of here. If you run into Miroku and Sango you can send them here. But that's it! You hear?" said InuYasha, not looking at Kagome but at the door._

_He felt her nod as if she couldn't find anything else to say to it. He knew she was worried but wasn't about to jeopardize her life. He would never forgive himself if she got hurt. Or worse…_

"_InuYasha?" whispered Kagome just before he opened the door._

_Inside it was just as dark as the rest of the castle. Still there was no sign of Naraku or any of his reincarnations. A moan brought their attention to the corner in which Kikyo had been laying. Her eyes opened and she saw InuYasha. But he would not look at her afraid that he would fall in love with her again when he had finally realized that he had to make a choice. And he chose Kagome. She was alive, she was here and he loved her more than anything. Sooner or later… he would have to tell her._

"_You fools!" cried Kikyo, struggling to her feet._

"_Don't, Kikyo!" said Kagome, rushing forward. "You're hurt."_

"_I have died once before so it does not matter," snapped Kikyo, making Kagome stop in her tracks._

_There was a lengthy pause in which InuYasha dared a look at her. It was in that moment he realized that she wasn't the same woman that had killed him nearly fifty years ago. How could he have ever mistaken that excuse for a being as Kikyo? It was true that she smelt, looked and acted just like Kikyo but there never was the true essence of Kikyo._

"_Feh," said InuYasha, looking away and crossing his arms. "You can get yourself killed but if you wouldn't mind handing over the jewel we'll be on our way."_

"_Never!" cried Kikyo, clutching tighter at the Shikon Jewel that she had been holding since they walked into the room. "If you hadn't shown up soon the Jewel, Naraku and myself would be heading to the next world."_

_There it was again. The briefest glimmer of the real Kikyo, the part of her soul that InuYasha recognized. He shook his head and started toward Kikyo._

"_Look, I don't care what kind of plans you've made but you are not taking that thing with you!" said InuYasha._

"_You want it so you can become a full demon and destroy Naraku," said Kikyo in a low menacing voice. When InuYasha said and did nothing she started to laugh._

_And it was times like this when the real Kikyo just seemed to melt away. But still he couldn't help but think of her as the women he fell in love with. The women he was willing to become human for. But as he was thinking of this Kagome's face filled his mind._

"_All right. If you won't hand it over I'll just take it," said InuYasha, grabbing for the Shikon Jewel._

_But just as he was doing this Kagome screamed and the door and wall they had entered through shattered into splinters. Kikyo slipped away as InuYasha rushed to Kagome's side. He forced her down to the ground as Naraku made his entrance into the room._

"_Kagome, as soon as I attack Naraku I want you to follow Kikyo. Don't let her out of you sight!" whispered InuYasha. She nodded and started to get up._

"_Well, InuYasha, I didn't expect you to take the bait so blindly," laughed Naraku._

"_Feh, you thought I would miss a chance to kill you? Not on your life!" said InuYasha, drawing his sword._

"_So cocky. Too bad that won't save you," said Naraku._

"_Enough talk!" cried InuYasha, leaping forward and swinging his sword blindly. Naraku laughed and moved out of the way easily. "Damn!"_

"_I'm sorry, were you aiming for me?" said Naraku. Quickly and silently he drew his sword. Before InuYasha could make a single move Naraku had stabbed him in the stomach._

"_INUYASHA!" cried Kagome, being held back by Kikyo._

_InuYasha moaned as Naraku kicked him back against the wall._

"_I'm disappointed. That was a little easier than I thought it would be," said Naraku, sheathing his sword._

_Suddenly a flash of light went across the room and hit Naraku in the leg. He cried out in pain and saw Kagome standing in her fighting position, having just loosed one of her arrows._

"_Damn you, witch," hissed Naraku._

"_Hey! You're fights with me!"_

_InuYasha had struggled to his feet and had suddenly punched Naraku across the face._

"_Really, InuYasha, you think you will be able to fight for that much longer? There was poison on my sword. It will soon paralyze your entire body," laughed Naraku, seemingly unshaken by the punch._

"_Well, that's enough time to tear you apart!" cried InuYasha, jumping forward._

_Naraku grabbed InuYasha by the neck and threw him across the room. There was a crack of not just wood but also of at least two ribs as well. He walked half way across the room, his arm changing shapes. InuYasha looked up, in obvious pain._

"_This ends here. Die, InuYasha!" cried Naraku, his arm growing and heading straight for InuYasha, readying to give the final blow._

"_NO! INUYASHA!" cried Kagome._

"_Don't be a fool," said Kikyo. _

"_Let go of me!" snapped Kagome._

_Kikyo cried out as she was thrown backwards. Kagome ran forward and…_

"_You idiot girl!" snarled Naraku._

_Instead of piercing InuYasha, his obvious goal, Kagome had gotten in the way and was pierced right through the chest. _

"_You lose…" muttered Kagome, falling to her knees._

"_No…NO! KAGOME! NO!" cried InuYasha, catching her as she fell._

"_I—I'm sorry…" she muttered, turning paler by the second. "I couldn't do more…I couldn't kill him."_

"_What are you talking about? I told you to stay hidden. You weren't supposed to get hurt…" whispered InuYasha._

"_Inu…Yasha…" muttered Kagome. "I love you…" With that her eyes closed and her hand fell limp._

"_Kagome? Kagome!" cried InuYasha._

"_She died. How sad," said Naraku, drawing his sword yet again._

"_You… you… _BASTARD_!" cried InuYasha, jumping to his feet._

_The anger and hate that filled InuYasha's eyes were enough to make even Naraku quiver. Kikyo was amazed at the rage that was emanating from him from such a simple death. Though even she missed the girl in her own way she didn't truly realize what had caused such a sudden change in InuYasha._

"_Did she really mean that much to you, InuYasha?" sneered Naraku, kicking the Tetsusaiga to InuYasha's feet._

_He picked it up, not daring to look away from his enemy for a slightest moment. Naraku came at him, he dodged, then parried. Finally he went on the offensive, throwing Naraku's sword out of his hands in one large, hard swipe. Then he raised his sword for his ultimate attack._

"_This ends here, Naraku," hissed InuYasha through clenched teeth. Then, while bringing down his sword in a mighty swipe he cried out: "_WIND SCAR!_"_

_Naraku's cry filled the room as InuYasha leaned against his sword, breathing heavily from exertion and his injuries. As the events and the realization that Kagome was dead caught up to him, Kikyo stepped in front of him._

"_You truly cared about her more," she muttered._

"_Leave me alone!" cried InuYasha._

"_InuYasha…" said Kikyo softly, moving his face to look at hers. "She wouldn't want you to go on living in such a depressed state. But do not make the same decision as I and not go on living. There's still a whole much more you can do. And who knows, you may learn to love again."_

"_You don't know how I feel," snapped InuYasha._

"_You were the one man I ever loved, InuYasha. Don't tell me I don't know how you feel," said Kikyo. "Don't you go denying any of it. You loved Kagome and now she's gone."_

_After she said this she allowed his face to drop as he collapsed to the ground. Cries of "InuYasha!" and "Kagome!" could be heard from the distant dark corridors of the castle. For awhile he felt just like laying there forever until he died. But then the voices of Shippo, Miroku and Sango were right on top of him._

"_InuYasha. Are you okay?" came Shippo's small voice that was extremely full of worry._

"_You can't kill me that easily," muttered InuYasha, sitting up and looking anywhere but at his friends._

"_Kagome?" came Sango's timid voice, making InuYasha flinch. "She's as cold as ice… Miroku! Kagome! She's dead!"_

"_K—Kagome!" cried Shippo, running forward._

"_Who in the hell did this?" cried Miroku._

"_It's like you've never seen a dead body before," said InuYasha, still choosing not to look at his friends. They would never forgive him if they knew what had really happened._

"_InuYasha, what happened?" said Miroku in a tone that said not to lie. He did anyways…in a matter of speaking._

"_The girl was stupid and didn't do what I told her to do. Stupidity got her killed," said InuYasha._

"_How can you be so heartless!?" cried Shippo. "It's like you don't even care about Kagome!"_

"_What do you mean I don't care?" snapped InuYasha, turning to look at Shippo._

_But the sight he saw was not that of his friend crying. It was Kagome's face. For some reason she looked so peaceful, as if dieing hadn't really hurt her at all. In fact, if she wasn't so pale and there wasn't blood all down the front of her shirt he would have thought she was sleeping._

"_Kagome…" muttered InuYasha, reaching forward and hugging her close. "_Why_?"_

_As tears feel down his cheeks he didn't notice Miroku, Sango and Shippo slip away. He didn't notice the rising of the sun or the birds singing. He didn't realize that Kikyo's scent had completely disappeared. All he really noticed was how cold Kagome was and how much his heart hurt to lose her._

_But then suddenly everything disappeared. All InuYasha saw was white—white emptiness. There was absolutely nothing, just him…and Kagome's body in his arms._

_He put Kagome down on the floor and wiped the tears off his face that he wished were not there. When he opened his eyes again they landed on the dead girl's body as if they couldn't help it. But something was different—horrifyingly, terrifyingly different._

_"No… NO!" moaned InuYasha, brushing Kagome's raven hair aside. Except for this girl's hair wasn't raven—it was brown. And this wasn't Kagome…it was…_

_"Sueko…" breathed InuYasha, staring down at the dead body. "Sueko? How could it—how could you be dead?!" He shook the lifeless Sueko as fresh tears fell down his face, willing it to speak, but nothing happened._

"InuYasha?"

_He ignored the voice, just shook Sueko harder. "Talk to me! Why are you dead? Why do I feel this way? Why does it hurt…so much?"_

"InuYasha!"

_"Shut up!" he cried to the voice. "Sueko, why are you dead?"_

_The tears wouldn't stop. The aching in his heart wouldn't stop. And the voice calling his name wouldn't stop, either. But then it felt as though someone slapped his cheek and he opened his eyes…_

"InuYasha!?" cried Sueko. Seeing that he was awake, she smiled. "Are you going to sleep in all day or what?"

InuYasha blinked at Sueko. "It was all a dream…"

"Yeah. Though it didn't look as though you were having a really good one, either…Want some chocolate? My mom used to give me some when I was a little kid. It helps…"

InuYasha looked at Sueko. Her face was cheerful and full of life. It wasn't pale and didn't look as though it would be cold to the touch. His dream had felt so _real…_

Noticing that Sueko was expecting him to say something, he mumbled a, "Sure," and watched as Sueko rummaged through her book bag, muttering, "I'm pretty sure I have some left…in here…_somewhere…_"

"Aha!" cried Sueko triumphantly, holding out the piece of chocolate she was looking for. She tossed it to InuYasha—he caught it—and, swinging the book bag Sueko stood up and grabbed InuYasha's wrist to pull him up. "Hurry up now. Yoshiko wants to get a head start with the traveling. She has this weird idea that…"

Sueko and InuYasha walked out of the hut. The startling change in light made InuYasha blink a few times in his sleepiness. It was a good thing Sueko was still holding on to his wrist and dragging him along because the sunlight made it hard to see clearly.

"Now he's awake," he could here Sango mutter.

"Let's get a move on then!" cried Yoshiko.

Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusted to the bright sunshine. He looked at what was in his hand. A bite size piece of chocolate covered in a dark pink wrapper that was shaped like a heart. It had, "Happy Valentine's Day!" written on it.

"What's…Valentine's?" asked InuYasha, making sure to pronounce it right.

"Huh?" said Sueko, turning her head at him. Her eyes went down to the candy in his hands. "Oh! It's left over from Valentine's Day…that's a really old piece of candy! But chocolate lasts a long time so it should still be good." Then, realizing she still hadn't answered the question yet, she laughed and added, "It's a holiday back in my era. Um…it's to celebrate love…Yeah, weird, huh? It's mostly for couples but friends exchange candy to. See, you're supposed to give chocolate to people…" Sueko giggled. "You don't have to get me anything back, though," she added with a smile.

"Oh…all right then," said InuYasha as he carefully peeled the wrapping of the delectable treat and popped the thing in his mouth. He had eaten chocolate before—Kagome had brought some from her era once—but that had been a long time ago and he had forgotten just how sweet chocolate was.

"Good, huh?" said Sueko, watching InuYasha chew.

"Yeah," he admitted. But InuYasha felt as though the chocolate was bittersweet—or his morning, that is.  
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Every night after that one InuYasha was haunted by Kagome. Not just Kagome, either, but Sueko too. When he closed his eyes at night he relived the night that Kagome got killed. Sometimes it skipped the Kikyo part, sometimes just plunged straight to where she died, but it always ended the same…with Sueko, dead, in his arms. And every time he woke up he tried to figure it out…why was he dreaming about this _now_, and not _before_, when he hadn't known Sueko? Okay, so that would make Sueko out of the dream, but he had never dreamed of Kagome's death before now. So if he hadn't had them then, than why now, and why was Sueko in the end of it?

His thoughts would go back to that night on the full moon, when Yoshiko told him that Sueko had liked him. While it was such a ridiculous thought it wouldn't go away. And he also couldn't help thinking, 'How do I feel about her?'

That's what InuYasha couldn't figure out. How did he feel about Sueko? He didn't hate her, he didn't like her…the only way to describe the feeling was with the way he had felt about Kagome, but—it can't be…No, there was absolutely no way he liked Sueko as much as Kagome. He had never liked anyone more then Kagome—ever—and no one could change that, not even some silly girl who came out of the well one day. Though then again, wasn't that Kagome? Wasn't Kagome just some silly girl that came out of a well too? Kagome and Sueko did have a lot in common, but they also had their differences. Not just in appearance, either. Sueko was more stubborn, Kagome more easily jealous, Sueko more daring, Kagome braver…but both cared about InuYasha. Both were there for him. Both were kind to him, understanding…they knew he was upset without him having to say a word. They knew when he needed someone there beside him.

Kagome just wanted him to be himself.

Sueko just wanted him to be happy.

'But there's no way,' InuYasha thought, 'that I feel the same way about Sueko as I did about Kagome.'  
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_He was in a meadow. There was no one in sight—there was no one around at all. It made InuYasha feel very, very alone, as though he was the only one left on the planet._

_He looked at his surroundings. To his left was the edge of a forest, to his right the way to the nearest village. Why he knew that he didn't know since there wasn't anything there to suggest that a village was nearby._

_Turning around, InuYasha saw a sight that took his breath away._

_He knew this place. He knew it all to well, despite the fact he had only been here once. There wasn't just a mound of dirt in front of him…there was a grave._

_This was the place where Kagome's body laid._

_InuYasha knelt down. He had only been here once before for a reason: he didn't like it here. Which was understandable. But he was here for a reason, wasn't he?_

_His eyes lay on the pile of flowers on the mound of dirt. They were now dead from lack of water. Looking around, he spotted a white daisy swaying in the wind that he could have sworn hadn't been there before, but he brushed the dead flowers away and replaced it with the plain white daisy. Setting it down on the earth, InuYasha's hand tingled as though he had triggered something sacred._

_A strong wind blew his long silver hair in his face, and InuYasha brushed it away. Just as he did the wind that had suddenly appeared dispersed just as rapidly. And looking up he saw something that made him fall from his kneeling position to a sitting one._

"_InuYasha," said a soft and kind voice. It belonged to a female. More importantly, it belonged to a girl he knew all too well._

_Kagome._

"_W—what?" cried InuYasha, crawling backwards away from the sight._

"_It's all right. Please don't be frightened!"_

"_H—how?" cried InuYasha, stopping and just sitting down._

"_That's not important," said Kagome. She looked just as he had remembered her: messy raven hair, chocolate brown eyes, the kind face, and that weird green outfit she wore. It was just as weird as the pants and shirt Sueko wore. But why was Kagome reminding him of Sueko?_

_Kagome smiled and walked over to InuYasha. She sat down next to him and hesitated before reaching out her hand to pet one of his dog-ears._

_InuYasha closed his eyes. "Stop that," he muttered, not really meaning it._

"_But I've missed how soft they are," giggled Kagome. But then she stopped rubbing his ear and leaned back, making InuYasha turn his head to get a better look at her._

"_I'm here for a reason, you know," she said seriously—though her expression looked so happy and yet full of sorrow that it made some of the seriousness in her tone go away._

"_I figured," said InuYasha dreamily. He felt so content, with Kagome back…_

"_It's okay," said Kagome suddenly._

"_What?" InuYasha asked, narrowing his eyebrows with confusion. _

"_It's okay," said Kagome. "I don't care."_

"_What are you talking about?" InuYasha wanted to know._

"_You already know what I'm talking about," said Kagome. She was no longer looking at InuYasha, but was instead looking ahead, up at the sky. "It was different when you liked Kikyo. I was angry…I was jealous. I mean, she was already dead, and she had betrayed you, yet you kept going back from me to her, trying to figure out which of us you should love, Kikyo, or me? I envied Kikyo and wished she would just die again, even though I know you'd become hurt with her gone. But…this is different. Now I'm the one who's dead, and you've got her. And now you have to choose again. Which girl should you give your heart to? Will you give it to me, the girl you once loved who is dead, or Sueko, a girl with her whole life ahead of her and a destiny to follow? You had to make the decision once, and now you have to do it again."_

_Kagome paused for a moment, then said, "To make your decision easier, I'm here to say that I think it's okay for you to love Sueko. After all, why be in love with something that isn't there? What's the point? You'll just continue in a state of misery forever until your life ends, wanting something you can never have. But you too have a whole life ahead of you, so…"_

_She broke off, done with her monologue. And InuYasha understood._

"_You want me to be with Sueko?" he asked quietly._

_Kagome didn't say yes or no. "I love you, InuYasha, and I always will. And I know you love me too. But your heart's big enough that you can give other people that love too. Love never runs out. And if you love Sueko just a little bit more then me, well, I won't mind, not at all. I'm a dead girl, InuYasha. I'll never come back from the dead. My life is over. But Sueko's isn't."_

"_Um…Kagome?" said InuYasha._

"_What?"_

"_Uh…what's your point with all of this?"_

_Kagome sat there and blinked at InuYasha for a few seconds, looking dumbfounded. Then she said in a low voice, "What do you mean what's my point?"_

"_About you not caring whether or not I like Sueko."_

_Kagome moaned and put a hand to her forehead. "Don't tell me you don't _know_!" she cried._

"_Erm…"_

"_You like her, InuYasha!" cried Kagome. "You like Sueko."_

"_Well, of course I like Sueko! I haven't exactly killed her yet, now have I?"_

"_No, no, NO!" Kagome shook her head in frustration. "You're _in love_ with her, okay?"_

"_Oh."_

"_And that would explain all the weird feelings you're having about her," continued Kagome, sighing._

"_Wait a minute…have you been spying on me?" cried InuYasha, giving Kagome a look._

_Kagome smiled innocently. "Sometimes I peak…besides, this is a dream! Not all of it is real!"_

"_I bet your just saying that," muttered InuYasha._

"_But we can pretend it's real while it lasts," said Kagome, lying down on the grass._

"_Yeah, we could," said InuYasha._

_There was a moment of silence as InuYasha sat there savoring the moment and Kagome continued to lie on the ground, playing with a strand of hair. But then she sighed exasperatedly and cried, "Oh, get down here!" and pulled InuYasha's sleeve to bring him down next to her._

_InuYasha didn't complain, just looked up at the sky with Kagome. It was a perfect sunny day with a few clouds in the sky. He wished this dream would never end. Even though it felt so real InuYasha could tell it wasn't reality… but, _oh_, if it could be…_

'_Let's just hope I never, ever, wake up.'_

"_Kagome?" he said, rolling over to his side, facing Kagome._

"_What?" she asked, doing the same to get a better look at him._

"_I…I really missed you, you know that? And I—"_

_Kagome gave InuYasha a reassuring smile. A smile that said, "I understand." Before InuYasha could say another word, Kagome leaned over and laid her lips on his._

_It might have been a dream, but that didn't mean InuYasha could not feel._

_The kiss seemed to feel like it'd go on forever…but then it finally ended, as good things usually do. And, with her face still inches away from his face, Kagome said quite sternly but with a smile still on her face, "Now get me out of your head already! How are you supposed to be in love with Sueko if all you can think about is me?"_

"_Huh?" said InuYasha, startled. But then it felt as though someone was poking his face—even though Kagome wasn't even touching him—and everything started to disappear…_

"What time are you going to bed at night? Because, no offence InuYasha, but this is just getting ridiculous…"

"Sueko?" said InuYasha, blinking away the sleepiness.

There was Sueko's face right in front of him. Her face looked serious but you could tell by her hazel-green eyes that she was finding this all amusing. They were practically laughing out loud and nearly covered by her messy brown hair, which was all over her face (being more messy then usual because she had probably just woken up).

"Yes, it's me. Now hurry up! I think we've got a lead on one of the Shrine Stones!"

Two minutes past. Sueko and InuYasha didn't move an inch, just stayed still, looking at each other. Then, with a small, shy smile appearing on InuYasha's face, he lifted his hand and pushed some of Sueko's brown hair out of her face.

"It's always in your face," said InuYasha in barely a whisper, as if he needed to explain.

"Oh," said Sueko, returning the small smile.

"Ahem!"

InuYasha and Sueko looked up. Yoshiko was standing above them, her arms crossed and a sly smirk on her face.

"The early bird gets the worm," she said calmly. "Now stop dallying and get off your butts! Don't we have a stone to get?"

Sueko and InuYasha got up and followed Yoshiko. After all, she did have a point—there was a stone they needed to get back.


	12. Girl Talk

**AUTHOR'S NOTES (Wait, these are actually just Kayhera's notes since I'm the one posting them on this stupid website—I didn't say is stupid, you just read it wrong—so why do I even bother calling them Author's Notes if Ravyn doesn't comment?! My logic does not make any sense at all…)  
**To my only reviewer (Hopefully you know who you are ;) ): Your review cracked me up! It made me laugh, which sort of hurt because I got bottom braces today (damn those dentist people!) but whatever, laughing is a good thing! Did you mean Tamika and Keitaro when you said, "I like her friends"? Well, I liked writing them, they were fun to write! I'm hoping I'll get to write them again really soon as soon as Ravyn finishes up with her part—she's having _way_ too much fun writing some Yoshiko/Sesshomaru junk so I don't think I'll ever be able to write any more—or update for that matter because she just won't _stop_! And chapter ten was where InuYasha pretty much _did_ get over Kagome… now we just have to wait for him and Sueko to pair up. But they're so stubborn I don't think that'll happen for a while. _Laughs_ Ow… STUPID BRACES!!! Talking is so much fun… I want to write more but Ravyn's not done yet!!! Um… _continues to stall_ Let's see here… Oh, whatever. I was going to say/write something but I forgot what it was, damnit! Oh well, here's the stupid disclaimer—erm, I mean, it's not stupid, it's a very wonderful thing really—oh, whatever…

**DISCLAIMER  
**When the eighth Harry Potter book comes out I will own InuYasha. Since there is no eighth Harry Potter that means I'll never own him—I won't even be married to him. DAMNIT!!! Oh well… maybe I could write Sueko marring him and that'd be good enough. By the way, I actually _own_ Sueko. She's mine, all mine, and you can't steal her!!! Same with Yoshiko, and the old dude that shows up in this chapter that I forgot the name of and I'm too lazy to look up, and… I think that's all the new characters that show up… Oh, wait, Yoshiko's aunt shows up! I think… whatever, I own that too! Actually, I don't… Ravyn wrote this update. I was in the same room that she was in when she wrote this chapter, but still, I don't own her. Or Yoshiko. Yeah… maybe the mocha wasn't a good idea. Anyways, anything that you don't recognize from the show or manga we own, got it? Good! Damn computer…. MANGA IS SPELLED RIGHT!!!! Um… and I don't think I've ever said this before but I'll say it so I don't get sued: I stole Keitaro's name from _Love Hina_—I needed a guy name and the main character's name is Keitaro so I just used that. There… happy now? Good… now read the update, because at the rate Ravyn's going it's the last one you'll get for a year and a half!  
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**Chapter Eleven: Girl Talk**

The wind rustled their clothing as the gang sat on the grass eating a small lunch they had packed. Yoshiko stood a little ways off, looking down off the hill toward the mountain cave where she knew the Fire Shrine to be… and where the Tiger Demons lived. The only part of her family that still lived and the part that she wished she could expel permanently. Her foul mood had seemed to rub off on the others for they were quiet, munching away at the bread without looking anybody in the eyes.

She sighed, pulling her long orange hair back and tying it out of her eyes. This obnoxious wind always caused her to pull her hair back (or chop most of it off) because it got in the way of one her best senses: sight. Where InuYasha could distinguish different smells and hear pretty well she too could pick up the tiniest of noises and could see things miles off… even in the dark. But the wind always made it difficult for her to see and hear which made her irritable anywhere near the Fire Shrine.

"I thought this was the Fire Shrine, not the Wind Shrine!" cried out Sueko, trying yet again to put her hair behind her ears. But the wind still took it and flung it in her eyes.

Sango took pity on her and handed the girl a tie for her hair. For a minute Sueko just looked at it, unsure what to do with it. Then Yoshiko rolled her eyes and pulled Sueko's hair back in a tail.

"Thanks…" said Sueko sheepishly.

"What do you use in your world to keep your hair back?" asked Sango.

"Well, if I do pull my hair back I use something called a rubber band," said Sueko as Yoshiko walked back to the edge of the hill.

"We can't sit around all day! If it becomes nightfall before we leave than we can just forget going down this hill alive!" snapped Yoshiko.

Everybody fell quiet as they rushed the rest of their lunch. The half tiger demon hadn't touched a bite of anything and Sueko was starting to worry. She walked over with half a sandwich and stood by Yoshiko's side. At first she didn't seem to notice Sueko but finally she looked at her.

"Yes?"

"Would you like a sandwich?" asked Sueko, a bit boldly.

"I'm not hungry."

"You've got to eat something!"

"Demons can go months with out food. Half-demons can go weeks."

"I still don't like that you're not eating! Normally you eat as much as InuYasha!" snapped Sueko.

"He didn't eat that much."

"At least he ate!" cried Sueko.

At this time the group was done with their food and staring at the exchange between Yoshiko and Sueko. The older girl took a step back, a bit shocked at Sueko's out burst.

"Are you mad at me or something?" asked Sueko.

"No…" said Yoshiko, not meeting the girl's gaze.

"I don't believe you! You've talked to me once, once! since Sesshomaru left. What did I do wrong? I hate having people mad at me!" Sueko half shouted.

"I'm not mad at you!" snapped Yoshiko, looking Sueko in the eyes. Then she looked away. "It's just… You wouldn't believe me that he wasn't that bad anymore and then you got hurt!"

"Oh, so you're blaming me!" cried Sueko.

"You're so stupid and stubborn!" snapped Yoshiko. "But I don't just blame you, I blame myself! If you… got killed…"

She stopped and turned away, taking deep breaths. Suddenly she felt arms around her neck as Sueko hugged her.

'I haven't had a hug in… ages…' mused Yoshiko silently.

Before she could hug her back beyond the distance of the wind she heard something in the trees surrounding the top of the hill. Quickly she pulled away and looked around, trying to catch sight or sound of whoever was spying on them. Before that happened though a group of tigers jumped out of the bushes and surrounded them. Then up the hill laughing came a very familiar demon.

"I thought you had learned your lesson last time you came, Yoshiko," laughed the tiger demon. She wore orange and black robes, had hazel eyes and long, silky black hair that seemed untouched by the wind. Her claws were slightly longer than Yoshiko's and she had tiger stripes on her cheeks and hands.

"It's nice to see you too, Aunt Rheda," snarled Yoshiko.

"So much for getting in undetected," muttered InuYasha, having stood up along with Miroku and Sango. Shippo was cowering in fear behind Kirara, who had changed into her larger form.

For a minute the tiger demon's eyes just wandered over the unusual traveling party and an amused smile pulled upon her lips. Finally she threw her head back, laughing right out. The sound made Yoshiko's blood go cold as she thought of the many other times she had heard it. She couldn't have been much older than 12 when she had come to the Demon Tiger Tribe and learned how to use her sword. Every time she so much as took a wrong step her aunt would laugh. Back then she had felt ashamed. Now it only caused her to hate the women more.

"May I ask what joke I've missed?" hissed Yoshiko.

"How ironic that you should become part of a group of outcasts! Another half-demon. A demon slayer without a village. The monk who once had the Wind Tunnel in his hand and made a habit of touching women. A young fox demon probably without parents. Then a young girl in strange clothing, probably the 'Last One' who can't go near demons without them wanting her for power," laughed Rheda.

"How it is that everybody seems to know something about me but me!?" cried Sueko in frustration.

"How sad. She doesn't know. Yoshiko, have you've been keeping that knowledge away from her? You, the person that has done more research on it than your mother and father combined, have said nothing!?" inquired Rheda, still wearing an amused expression.

Guilt and anger coursed through Yoshiko as she felt everybody's eyes wander on to her but snap back onto the tiger demon. Hopefully they knew that if she had kept something it was for a good reason. But… she had been awfully secretive about everything before. Besides, Miroku and Sango probably didn't even trust her yet. Silently she tried to tell them all that it had been for a reason. But the hurt in Sueko's eyes was unmistakable.

Suddenly her aunt pointed one of her fingers toward the ground, a fire started to grow at that point. In a blink of an eye it had surrounded the group. The gang huddled in a group in the center but the fire started to move toward them.

"I see no point in taking you as prisoners. You're no use to me alive," said Rheda, shrugging.

Through the fire Yoshiko watched her silhouette walk away, followed by her tiger slaves. Sueko started shaking in fear and Kirara had to shrink to not get burnt. Even though nobody said anything out loud, Yoshiko knew they were all trying to think of some way to get out. There had to be away…

With a sudden hunch she pulled out her sword and stuck it in the flames. They moved away, leaving a gap between the flames and the sword. She sheathed her sword and then…

"What are you doing?" cried Sueko, grabbing Yoshiko's arm.

She didn't stop but continued to stick her fingers, her hand and then even her whole arm into the fire. The half-demon let out her breath in a sigh and then pushed Sueko through the flames. InuYasha cried out and made a grab for her, but the girl just fell through to the other side. They saw her stand up and look herself over.

"I'm fine!" she cried.

"You have to go through this way," said Yoshiko, pointing at the place that Sueko had gone through. It had also been the place where she had stuck her sword in. "One at a time!"

The next to go was Shippo and then Kirara. Miroku and Sango soon followed after. InuYasha took one look at Yoshiko and stepped outside the ring of flames. Finally she was able to cross the threshold as the fire finally came into a circle small enough for one person. Then they came to a point where it was just a column. Eventually it burned itself out and disappeared.

"That was a close one," exclaimed Shippo.

But nobody was thinking about what had just happened. What they were all thinking about was what Yoshiko knew and wasn't telling. In an attempt to make them feel better she looked Sueko straight in the eyes.

"If I thought you needed to know, I would have told you," muttered Yoshiko.

"I know…" muttered Sueko, looking away. "But couldn't you have told me _something_!"

"I'm going to tell you 'something' now!" said Yoshiko firmly.  
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The sun had started to set by the time Yoshiko had finished explaining about the legend of the 'Last One.' She left out the whole love relationship the girl had had and the fact that if the same thing happened Sueko would die. At this moment that wasn't very important and if she had said it InuYasha would probably become pissed. It almost seemed like Sueko was undisturbed by the fact that she was probably the reincarnation of some powerful priestess from who knows how long ago. InuYasha, however, was unnerved not only by that but by the fact that because of her Kikyo and Kagome had been very powerful priestesses.

"Why didn't you tell any of this to us sooner?" asked Miroku, sitting calmly.

"I wanted to have all the facts first," said Yoshiko. But it was only half true. She just didn't know any of them would take it since they had all become very fond of Sueko. Which was why she left out half of the legend.

"At least she told us at one point!" said Sueko.

"But how long was she planning on keeping this information to herself?" said InuYasha, moodily.

"I want to know how she knew all of this…" muttered Sango.

"I'm sitting right here you know!" cried Yoshiko.

"Then maybe you should have said something earlier," stated Miroku.

"You've been talking as if I wasn't here. Or, more importantly, like I couldn't understand you!" glowered Yoshiko.

"They didn't mean it!" said Sueko, hurriedly.

For a minute Yoshiko just sat there glaring at everybody. Then suddenly she smiled. That soon turned into a laugh. Everybody else glanced at each other, wondering if she was okay. Before anybody could say anything though, Yoshiko pulled Sueko in for a hug. At this everybody's eyes went wide in shock.

"I bet you could make friends with anybody!" laughed Yoshiko.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Well okay, maybe not with people like Koga and Sesshomaru because you think they're jerks," added Yoshiko, letting the girl go.

Sueko reached up a hand and set it on the half tiger demon's forehead, causing Yoshiko to laugh even more.

"I'm feeling just fine, okay!" she said.

"Are you sure? You're not acting like… well… yourself," muttered Sueko.

"I guess I don't do a whole bunch of smiling and laughing anymore… In fact I don't think I've done much since my father died," said Yoshiko thoughtfully.

"You've never mentioned your father before," said Sueko quietly.

"Because it's such a depressing topic. You don't hear InuYasha talking about his family do you?" shrugged Yoshiko. "Now we should probably get moving because if I know my aunt she'll be coming to check on our 'dead' bodies soon."

"I almost forgot about her!" said Sango, jumping to her feet. The rest followed suit.

"I guess we can forget about procuring a Fire Stone today…" mused Miroku.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that…" muttered Yoshiko.

Before anybody could get an answer out of her, Yoshiko hurried everybody into the trees, taking them on a long route down into the valley of the Tiger Demons. Once the cave was in sight they crouched down in the bushes, watching the mouth. Not too long later a figure emerged from the shadows, pausing long enough to leave two tigers to guard the entrance. She then started up the hill where she expected to find six dead bodies… and a dead Kirara as well.

"Rheda will only linger up on the hill for a maximum of ten minutes. But she rarely goes anywhere with out her personal guard so there will only be those two tigers at the entrance. If she's smart there will be a couple inside, but that's it!" explained Yoshiko.

"So what do you expect us to do?" asked Sango.

"Wait here while InuYasha and I go in and steal the Fire Stones," said Yoshiko.

"So I'm supposed to wait here! I'm the one with the sword that senses the stones!" cried Sueko.

"Fine, you can go too," sighed Yoshiko.

"I don't think—" started InuYasha.

"We can't waste anymore time. Let's go," muttered Yoshiko, sneaking out of the bushes and creeping along the stonewall toward the silhouette of the tigers.

When the three were just beyond the view of the guard, InuYasha stepped forward, using his Iron Reaper Soul Stealer to do away with them. They started to cry out but Yoshiko silenced them quickly by decapitating them. Sueko raised her eyebrows at the two half-demons but said nothing as they entered the cave. The girl pulled out her sword but a first it stayed a dull blue. As they traveled deeper into the dark tunnel it suddenly became a blinding blue light. Despite that when they noticed it the sword's glow had all ready started to diminish.

"I guess it was back a little ways," whispered Yoshiko, keeping her hand on one of the walls as they headed back. Sueko followed suit on the opposite wall.

"I'm not—" started Sueko before she suddenly fell sideways through solid rock.

"SUEKO!" cried InuYasha, reaching out for her.

He missed her hand entirely and found himself falling after her. Yoshiko shook her head as the two disappeared and she followed after them, stepping silently through the barrier made to look like a wall. On the other side InuYasha was picking himself up, almost completely red in the face. Sueko was blinking so furiously it almost seemed as if her eyes were closed. Yoshiko stifled a laugh as she helped the young girl to her feet and gave InuYasha wink behind her back.

"What!?" cried InuYasha, going even redder.

"So, Sueko, where does your magnificent sword say that the stone is?" asked Yoshiko jokingly.

"I don't know! It just glows brighter, it doesn't tell me where they are!" cried Sueko.

"Pick it up, close your eyes and concentrate on the sword," said Yoshiko simply.

"Huh?"

"Just trust me," said Yoshiko.

"We don't have any time!" snapped InuYasha.

"I doubt my aunt knows about this place. She doesn't explore all that much; I on the other hand used it as an excuse to not be around her or the other Tiger demons," said Yoshiko bitterly.

"I haven't seen too many other Tiger demons…" muttered InuYasha.

"Because they were so stupid they either died or left then died," snapped Yoshiko.

"I can't concentrate if you two are talking!" cried Sueko.

Yoshiko gave a half smile but stopped talking as Sueko took three deep breaths and then closed her eyes. InuYasha rolled his eyes as the girl stood there looking extremely ridiculous, gripping her sword with her eyes closed and breathing deeply. Suddenly her eyes flew open and she pointed a little bit to the left with her sword.

"It's somewhere down that way!" said Sueko excitedly.

Without saying a word the three headed off in the direction that Sueko had pointed out. At first the only light was Sueko's sword. But as they progressed a faint red glow could be seen at the end. When they finally reached the source they figured the light to come from a barrier. InuYasha made to pull out his sword but Yoshiko stopped him by holding up her hand.

"The shrines can't protect themselves anymore so the barrier is weak. We'll be able to walk right through it," stated Yoshiko.

"Why is the barrier weak?" asked Sueko.

"Because demons have been taking away the power sources so they can find the Spirit Shrine," explained Yoshiko.

Silently the trio passed through the barrier and came upon a dais upon which stood but one perfectly formed red rock. Yoshiko picked it up and handed it to Sueko.

"I guess you'll have another stone for your necklace," muttered Yoshiko.

"We should get out of here before your aunt shows up," said InuYasha.

"Follow me!" said Yoshiko, rushing down the tunnels.

She recalled her childhood memories of exploring the endless tunnels and caves within the mountain as she ran, Sueko just barely keeping up. Muttering InuYasha picked her up by the back of the shirt and carried her the rest of the way. When they exited the mountain they were right behind Sango and Miroku. Quietly the group snuck away from the valley of the Tiger demons, hearing Rheda screech out foul curses behind them, InuYasha still carrying Sueko.  
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"I can walk! Put me down, put me down, put me down!" cried Sueko.

The gang had been walking since nightfall and the sun was now high overhead. Everybody was completely exhausted except, apparently, Sueko and Yoshiko. InuYasha rolled his eyes and paused long enough to let the flailing girl off his back. When her feet reached the ground she straightened out her clothing and ran to catch up with Yoshiko who was striding almost feet in front of the group. Twenty minutes later Miroku and Sango stopped.

"We can't stop! I don't know if he's even in the same place anymore!" snapped Yoshiko.

"You're in a bad mood again," sighed Sueko.

"We've been walking for almost twelve hours. We're all exhausted," said Sango.

"I bet even InuYasha is somewhat tired," said Miroku, sitting down.

"Feh."

"Well we should probably get this over quickly so we can find more stones," said Sueko reasonably.

"Exactly!" said Yoshiko. "So you guys can stay here and rest and me and Sueko will meet up with you later."

"Last time you went off alone you met up with Sesshomaru," said InuYasha.

"That's why I'm going with!" said Sueko stubbornly. "Besides, it is my sword!"

"If you don't find this mysterious guy by nightfall come back and you can try again tomorrow," said Sango, sitting down against a tree as well.

Giving a backwards wave to say she heard, Yoshiko headed off followed closely by Sueko. The two girls walked silently for a half hour before Yoshiko seemed to notice that the younger girl was in deep thought. She smiled.

"What's on your mind?" she inquired.

"What?" said Sueko, startled, looking up. "Oh, nothing."

"You have a glazed expression so obviously you're thinking about something. Now spill!" said Yoshiko.

The young girl was silent for five more minutes pondering what to say and how to say it. Finally Yoshiko got annoyed.

"Does it have to do with InuYasha?" she sighed.

"No!" said Sueko a bit too quickly.

"Uh huh…"

"Oh fine!" cried Sueko. "Well, when InuYasha picked me up I felt all weird and it was kind of strange and… well… it was just all weird!"

"Helpful," said Yoshiko sarcastically. 'At least she tried,' she added silently. She smiled and put an arm over Sueko's shoulder. "Don't worry. Sooner or later it'll all make sense."

"Helpful."  
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Waves crashed against the rocky cliff near the beach as the two girls looked around for any sign of humans. Suddenly Yoshiko started off down the beach heading toward something that only she could see. Sueko tried to keep up but she soon lost sight of the half-demon. Around a corner she came upon a small hut and inside came the sound of metal hitting metal.

"Takeno? Is that you Takeno?" cried Yoshiko as Sueko finally caught up, panting.

The flap on the front door moved as an old man stepped out into the sunlight. A smile crossed Yoshiko's face as she apparently recognized him. The old man appeared to be Takeno and nodded at Yoshiko, turning his eyes upon Sueko. She shifted from one foot to the other nervously and looked at Yoshiko.

"Sueko, this is Takeno. He used to be a great samurai but he retired and decided to make swords instead. Lately he only makes them for a select few," explained Yoshiko. "Takeno, this is Sueko, also referred to as the 'Last One' by many demons."

"I figured as much," said Takeno, reentering his cabin.

Yoshiko followed after the old man and Sueko soon followed after hesitating for a split second. Inside Takeno was serving tea as if he had expected that Yoshiko was going to show up. In fact three cups were waiting on his small table. He poured the tea into each of these as the two girls sat down.

"So what brings you, Yoshiko? Did you break your sword again?" asked Takeno, glaring at her through narrowed eyes.

Yoshiko laughed nervously.

"Actually no, Master Takeno. I haven't broken my sword lately. No, I wondered if maybe you could tell us a bit about her sword," said Yoshiko, nodding in Sueko's general direction.

The half-demon was gripping her teacup tightly and hadn't taken a single sip out of it. This led Sueko to believe that she was just as nervous as her. It almost seemed like Takeno was reading their minds.

"I don't bite! Well, at least I don't bite anymore. When I was younger I could bite with the best of them," laughed the old man.

Sueko raised her eyebrows and glanced at Yoshiko who just looked simply confused.

"Then I guess you haven't had little kids to threaten to pull their ears off lately," said Yoshiko stiffly.

"Huh?" muttered Sueko.

"Anyways, will you look at her sword?" asked Yoshiko.

"You didn't really think that I would pull off your ears did you? That was just a way of disciplining you. But yes, I'll look at this sword," said Takeno, taking a drink of tea.

Sueko unsheathed her sword and set it down on the table. At the first it seemed like the old man had no interest in the sword at all. Then he picked it up and turned it around in his hands, appearing to examine it closely. Finally he set it down and shrugged.

"It's a sword. What do you expect me to tell you?" he said.

"But this sword glows blue whenever a stone of one of the elements is around!" cried Yoshiko.

"Yet it doesn't glow now and you have at least three with you," said Takeno, shrugging.

"H—how did you know?" stammered Yoshiko.

"I may be old but I'm not blind! She carries two: one around her neck and the other in her pocket. You have one in your knife. Now tell me why the sword does not glow."

"I… I don't know…" muttered Yoshiko, looking down at the ground.

"What about you? You haven't said a word," said Takeno, turning to Sueko.

"That's not true! I said 'huh'!" said Sueko.

"That's not what I meant!" said Takeno, waving this aside. "Why do you believe the sword doesn't glow blue?"

"Well… to tell you the truth… I have no freakin' clue!" said Sueko.

Takeno sighed and shook his head sadly. He took another sip of his tea before looking at the two girls again.

"Because the stone has come into contact with the 'Last One' it stops calling out for the sword in a sense. It has all ready been found and doesn't need to be found again so the sword looks for those that are still lost. That is why it doesn't glow blue!" snapped the old man.

"If you knew that all ready why did you ask?" cried out Yoshiko, slamming her cup on the table, spilling cold tea on the table.

In a flash the old man reached out and grabbed a lock of the girls hair, pulling her head down onto the table with a thump.

"You still have a lot to learn!" he snapped. "Until you know all the facts do not question me."

"Hey! What did you do that for?" cried Sueko.

"Stay out of this, Sueko," said Yoshiko, gritting her teeth in pain.

"But…"

"This doesn't involve you," hissed Yoshiko.

"Fine!"

"You still act like a little kid. Thinking you're strong enough that you don't need help," said Takeno, releasing her hair and sitting back down. "She offered you help and you refused it. Sooner or later that will get you killed."

"I… I was helping her?" said Sueko timidly.

Before Takeno could say a word Yoshiko got to her feet and stormed out of the hut. Sueko blinked rapidly and looked from the doorway to Takeno.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked.

"No, it wasn't you. Even when she was a little girl Yoshiko thought she was invincible because she was half-demon. She would spin long tales about how she would become the greatest sword master ever and that she wouldn't need anybody to help her. That's why her father would bring her with when he would come to see me, hoping I would talk some sense into her. But it seemed that she could only be frightened of me and took me a bit too seriously. I guess she still hasn't learned any of her lessons," sighed the old man.

"She seemed really excited to see you though!" said Sueko.

"Because I'm her only connection to the life she once had," said Takeno. "What she needs to realize though is that life goes on and having friends and caring about them is not a weakness. Also needing help is not a weakness either. It just proves that she knows her limits and won't work past them if she doesn't have to."

"I thought she was comfortable being my friend," mused Sueko.

"Just let her know that you're her friend and will help her when she's in trouble. Maybe sooner or later she'll get over feeling weak," said Takeno. "Of course feeling weak is no fault of hers. Demons always tell half-demons that they're weak and humans say they are monsters. In the end they can't trust anybody and must live on their own."

"Yoshiko must be very lucky then," muttered Sueko.

"She is. Sooner or later she'll figure that out."  
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"Ready to go?" asked Sueko as she exited the cabin her sword back in it's sheath.

Yoshiko stood on the beach looking over the ocean toward the setting sun, the small waves lapping at her ankles. She stood silently making no sign that she had heard Sueko. She sighed and ran up behind the half-demon putting her arms around Yoshiko's neck and pulling her backwards. They both cried out as they fell down on the sand. Yoshiko sat up and glared at Sueko.

"What did you do that for!?" she snapped.

"You weren't paying attention to me," whined Sueko.

"Well, you can tell the old man that I'm not going back in there!"

"So you just want to stand here on the beach all depressed like while I go off and meet up with the others?" said Sueko slyly, grinning.

"Huh?"

"Well, if you had listened to me I asked if you were ready to go! You know, leave. See the others. Not be here anymore. Walk in the general direction that we came from. Retrace our—"

"I think I get it," laughed Yoshiko dryly, standing up and brushing off the sand. "Okay, let's get going."

As they started off in the direction they had come from Sueko cried out: "Great! Now I have sand in my hair!"


	13. New Enemies

**DISCLAIMER**  
I have yet to own InuYasha, but if I ever do get to own him I promise you that I'm not sharing! In fact, neither Ravyn nor me own anything! All we own is anything that you don't recognize from the TV show or manga. If you haven't gotten that through your head by now then… well, that's just sad!

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
I'm just warning you, I never edited this because a) I've been too lazy, b) I've barely had a chance to get on the computer because my sister is evil (I think she and Naraku are related). So there'll probably be minor mistakes, but nothing major, okay? And just to let you know, the evilness has begun, as you can see by the title of the chapter: New Enemies. I hope you like my bad guy! :D I came up with both but Ravyn kinda took the other one and made it her own thing… _sigh_ Oh well… maybe I'll live… Anyways, sorry if the end of this chapter is kind of choppy but this and thirteen went together, but it was just soooo long so I cut it in half. So sorry if you don't like it that much… I tried!!! And I'll post thirteen as soon as I can, but I haven't exactly had the computer lately…

**EDIT**  
was being extremely evil and uploaded this chapter weird.... sorry for the inconvenience! I'm trying it again and it will hopefully post the whole thing, not just some part of it! And don't forgot, reply when you're done!  
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**Chapter Twelve: New Enemies**

Sueko nearly tripped when she and Yoshiko met up with the others, for Shippo had leaped up from wherever he had been before and hugged Sueko's legs tightly.

"_Okay_, I get the picture," moaned Sueko, trying to kick him off.

"So, did you find out anything?" asked Sango, looking up at Yoshiko.

"Not much," said Yoshiko, sitting down and leaning against a tree.

"Apparently my sword doesn't glow when I've already found a stone," said Sueko dramatically, who also sat down, "but we were actually supposed to already know that."

"So what do we do now?" Shippo wondered out loud.

"How about we get some sleep?" said Sueko. "I like that idea!"

InuYasha raised his eyebrows as Sueko actually laid down, closed her eyes, and looked as though she had immediately fallen asleep. The sight of Sueko's sleeping form was both amusing and at the same time he couldn't help thinking how cute and peaceful she looked. But before he could ponder too much on the subject a smell hit his nose that bugged him. Actually, it was more like the _lack_ of any scent that bothered him.

"What?" asked Yoshiko, noticing InuYasha's change of expression.

"There's a lack of smell in the air," muttered InuYasha.

"Damn," muttered Sueko, sitting up. So apparently she had not fallen asleep. "Can't I get at least ten minutes of sleep around here?"

"Complain to the demons, not us," said Yoshiko.

"So where's it coming from?" asked Sueko, trying to get her sword out of her sheath (it looked as though she was having a bad time at it again).

"I don't know! It's sort of not there!" cried InuYasha. And then, sighing, he reached over and yanked the sword out for Sueko.

"Oh…" muttered Sueko, slowly grabbing the hilt of the sword and staring at it.

Before anyone could say anything an incredibly strong wind appeared, making everyone's hair fly into his or her face. Then as soon as it had come it disappeared and in its place was a shadow of a figure in the trees.

"Show yourself!" cried Miroku, standing up. Everyone else followed suit.

A soft cackle filled InuYasha's ears and it slowly grew into laughter. As the shadow walked forward InuYasha stiffened; it couldn't be…. Was it Naraku?

Well, actually, no. He looked very similar to Naraku but it wasn't him. His face was softer and his eyes weren't so cold—but they were still threatening looking. And he had the same height and the same hair as Naraku did.

It was then that all rational thought seemed to fall out of InuYasha's head. All he saw was red, and only one idea was playing in his head, over and over: he wanted to hurt this man as much as possible. He may not be Naraku but there was something about his looks… the way he stood, the way he smelled… he just reminded InuYasha of Kagome's killer way too much.

So InuYasha leaped up with his claws out, ready to just claw him to death instead of using the Tetsusaiga, which would have been the wiser thing to do. Especially since when InuYasha was coming towards him, the man just held up his hand and a sort of invisible wall came in between the two.

"A barrier?" said Sango—more like she found it fascinating then threatening.

"Who the hell are you?" InuYasha shouted out with his teeth clenched.

"The name is Kamatari," the man said, giving InuYasha a sly smirk. Which just pissed him off even more.

"This is a very strange group," Kamatari observed, putting his hands behind his back. "A half demon…a monk…a demon slayer…and an orphaned fox demon. And I notice that you have two new people in your little gang… yet another half demon and the mysterious girl that came out of the Bone Eaters' well." Then he turned to InuYasha and said, "But it looks as though you have moved on to protectors of shrines."

It took all InuYasha's will power to not attack the man again. But the sound of someone laughing startled him. Sueko was the source of the noise, and she stopped her laughter to say, "Okay, so you want to go kidnap me, steal my powers, use me to get all the stones, blah, blah, blah… Can you just get it all over with? I have yet to take a nap!"

"Wait a second…" said Miroku, standing up. "You seem to know about us so well as if we've met before, but we haven't. How is that?"

"You're right," said Kamatari, crossing his arms and looking just as thoughtful as Miroku, "we've never met. Yet, we sort of have. After all, you've all ran into Naraku a few times, haven't you?"

"What's Naraku have to do with it?" growled InuYasha.

"Everything," Kamatari said, turning his head at InuYasha again.

Sueko laughed again—she was obviously not taking any of this seriously. "Oh, _sooo_ very helpful, Mister… Kamie…"

"Kamatari," he corrected. But other then that he ignored the girl as he said, "See, Naraku knew that one day he would be defeated by InuYasha, so months before you killed him he made one last creation. It was made a complete secret to Kagura and the others. This new creation would be powerful then all the other ones before it and would continue Naraku's quest to get the Shikon Jewel."

"Are you…this other creation?" Sango asked.

Kamatari nodded his head once. "After Naraku was killed—along with his other creations—I was the only one left and went off in search for the Shikon Jewel, just as I was created to do. But I quickly discovered that the Shikon Jewel had been destroyed—I guess by you. Soon after I caught word of yet another girl coming out of the well while at the same time the four elemental shrines started to glow. I investigated both out of curiosity and discovered that the girl and the protector of the mysterious Spirit Shrine were the same one. With the Shikon Jewel gone I figured Naraku would want me to collect all the shrine stones and take the girl instead. So now I am here."

"Wow, a demon with a brain in their head! You actually know what you're talking about, unlike those other demons that want me dead and all that…" said Sueko.

"Actually," said Kamatari, that smirk reappearing on his face, "_I_ was the one who sent all those demons after you."

"So you _are_ idiotic…" said Sueko.

"They were to test your strength so I could determine just how strong you were."

"Or not…" muttered Sueko.

"So what do you want with us here?" asked Yoshiko.

"Well, my lesser demons proved that Naraku's memory of you is correct: you _are_ strong. I'm here to see _how_ strong you are against me." With that, Kamatari suddenly held a weapon in each hand as if they had materialized out of thin air. But as threatening as they looked, they were only fancy looking curved daggers.

"You think you'll defeat us with _those_?" laughed InuYasha, crossing his arms.

"I'm not trying to defeat you. I haven't figured out whether or not I can kill the protector of the Spirit Shrine… so I can't kill any of you yet," said Kamatari simply.

Sueko laughed. "You are the weirdest demon I've met! You come to attack but not to kill… how does that make sense?"

"He wants to see how powerful we are so he knows exactly how to kill us when the time comes," explained Miroku.

"Oh. Really? Man, that sucks!" complained Sueko, crossing her arms.

Kamatari chuckled. "Yes, I suppose it does _suck_… for you, that is."

Suddenly Kamatari swung his right arm, throwing one of the curved daggers towards Sueko. She didn't do anything, just stood there in shock. It wasn't until the last second or so she finally ducked—and ducked so low that she lost her balance and fell down on her butt. The dagger sunk into the nearest tree instead, but as suddenly as it had hit the tree it popped out and came back into Kamatari's hand as if pulled by an invisible string. Which it probably was… Then, coming back into his hands, he sent it out again, directly at Sueko, who wasn't really paying any attention and was instead grumbling and brushing dirt off her pants. She would have probably have suffered from a lack of head if InuYasha hadn't pulled out Tetsusaiga and blocked the attack just in time.

Kamatari grinned, and directed his curved daggers towards InuYasha instead. He blocked them easily, and then rushed over with his sword out, ready to attack. But like the last time InuYasha had tired to attack him Kamatari blocked him again (the dagger vanishing mysteriously from his right hand) and InuYasha could not push through the barrier.

"What gives?" cried InuYasha.

"I told you," said Kamatari simply, "I'm only fighting to test your strengths—"

"…And not to kill us. I know, I know… but I want to kill you!" complained InuYasha.

"InuYasha, why not just use the Tetsusaiga to _break_ the barrier?" cried Shippo (InuYasha was surprised he was still around).

Kamatari laughed again. "You might be able to break through Naraku's barrier, InuYasha, but there's no way you could break through mine." Then he sighed and made the dagger in his other hand vanish. "I suppose this is as fair as I'll get today… Until next time…"

InuYasha didn't want Kamatari to leave—he'd barely gotten a chance to cut the guy into pieces—but Kamatari made a cloud of smoke appear, and as soon as the fog faded away the man was gone.

Sueko sighed. "What a weird villain… Okay, can I go to bed now?" And before anyone could answer the question, she laid on the ground, shut her eyes, and drifted off to la-la land.  
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The large green centipede fell down with a crash, taking down two trees with it. Sesshomaru stood not too far away, putting his sword away as he strode toward the dead centipede demon. Running right behind him was Jaken and Rin who both wore really large grins.

"Good job, m'lord! That demon didn't stand a chance!" cried Jaken as Rin spun around in circles.

"No, it didn't," muttered Sesshomaru, bending over and picking something up. As he stood back up straight the large centipede suddenly disappeared.

"What!?" cried Jaken, his mouth wide.

"It was only created to seem like a demon so it could get this," said Sesshomaru, holding up a perfectly formed green stone.

"Oh! It's so pretty!" said Rin, eyes wide. "May I see it, Lord Sesshomaru?"

Instead of answering the girl the dog demon just starting striding into the forest. When the others started to follow he turned back around.

"There is something I need to see to. Please stay here."

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru!" cried Rin.

"But m'lord—" started Jaken.

"I'll be back momentarily."

Almost like a shadow he walked through the forest, sliding the stone into his pocket. Sesshomaru kept his eyes open trying to find somebody. After he had killed the centipede he had caught a familiar scent. But there was something odd about it. Almost as if there was another scent mixed with it. Not many things could confuse Sesshomaru but this did. And the fact that he cared.

"There you are!" came a familiar voice.

In one fluid motion Sesshomaru turned around, his hand going straight toward his sword. But when he saw her walking out of the woods he stood calmly. She looked the same. The same orange hair fell to her waist and her green eyes fell onto his face. A smile spread across her face but… there was something different about it. Almost evil.

"You were looking for me?" inquired Sesshomaru, still wary.

"Well, yeah. I can't see Rin again if I can't find you," laughed Yoshiko, the laugh seeming a bit too cold.

"What do you really want?" growled Sesshomaru.

"Oooh! Are we grumpy?" teased Yoshiko. She took a step forward but Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and she stopped. "Really. I spent three days training with you and you still don't trust me? I feel hurt."

"You'll feel my claws if you take another step forward."

"Maybe a little more than grumpy," said Yoshiko testily, putting her hands on her hips.

Sesshomaru's eyes looked over her face again trying to find something to prove that he was right. There was something wrong about her and it bothered him. But troubled him even more that he was concerned about this. It would have been so much easier to simply kill her where she stood. Then he wouldn't have worry anymore. Except something in the back of his head made him hesitate, irritating him even more.

"I asked you a question," snapped Sesshomaru.

"So did I," said Yoshiko looking like he was completely crazy. "But you did ask yours first. You have something of mine that I would like back."

"How long have you been spying on me?" inquired Sesshomaru.

"I answered your question!" said Yoshiko.

"That is my answer to your question," said Sesshomaru impatiently. Which wasn't like him.

"I come to see how you and Rin are doing every once and a while," shrugged Yoshiko. "Come to see if you're treating Rin right."

Sesshomaru turned away in the direction that he had come from but kept his eyes on Yoshiko. Still, no matter how long he looked at her she seemed the same. Even so her scent made him nervous, making killing her seem more reasonable. But still something nagged at the back of his head that he would regret it.

"Why should you worry about Rin?" asked Sesshomaru. "I've treated her right before you showed up."

"True. But I still can't help it. I mean, you are a demon," said Yoshiko, shrugging.

For some reason anger welled up in Sesshomaru almost causing him to lose all reason. But when he saw her smile turn into a smirk and her eyes flash blue he turned back towards her. Her smirk grew wider as realization swept over Sesshomaru. Before he could make to stop her she ran off in the direction he had left Jaken and Rin. Quickly he ran after her, hoping to make it before she could do a thing. But he was too late.

"Put me down! Lady Yoshiko, what are you doing?" cried Rin, flinging her small arms and legs about.

Yoshiko held her by the back of her dress and suspended her feet above the ground. When he had finally caught up with her she turned her green eyes upon him. This time there was no smile or smirk. A hidden fire flared up behind her eyes as she glared at him. Sesshomaru clenched his teeth as Rin continued to flail and he tried to stop from murdering this women. Despite the fact that he had one tiny little feeling that it wasn't her something in his mind wouldn't let him. He balled up his fist.

"Let her down. She has no part in this," said Sesshomaru as calmly as he could.

"If this is the only way to get what I want then I will kill her!" snapped Yoshiko. Behind her the sun was setting making the fire spring up more in her eyes.

"You crazy wench! She's an innocent little girl!" cried Jaken who had never shown any feelings for Rin.

"Give me the earth stone now!" screamed Yoshiko, losing all cool.

His mind wandered back to the centipede and he pulled out the green stone. As he stepped closer Yoshiko dropped the child gently. When she made a grab for the stone Sesshomaru pulled it out of her reach. She cried out in frustration, pulled out an odd looking dagger and stabbed him in left shoulder. Sesshomaru would have hardly felt it but the weapon was strange, filled with dark energy and he had to clench his teeth to stop from crying out. That was when he realized what was different about her.

"Where's your sword, Yoshiko?" said Sesshomaru silently, trying to keep the pain out of his voice.

Fear flashed in her eyes as she pulled out the dagger and turned around. Sesshomaru reached out and grabbed the back of her kimono, trying to stop her from going anywhere. Instead he grabbed a string that broke and allowed her to escape. Something blue fell to the ground in front of Rin who picked up another stone. Sesshomaru glared after the flash of orange cursing himself for letting anything get in the way of killing her.  
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Sueko stood at the front of the group kicking up dust and rocks as she went along while InuYasha came moodily at the rear. After their meeting with Kamatari everybody had been deathly quiet, annoying Yoshiko. Of course she had no quarrel with Naraku or this reincarnation of his so didn't get why he bothered everybody. As she stood somewhere in the middle of the group she heard running footsteps coming nearer. At first she didn't realized what it was and just as the figure was bursting out of the trees Yoshiko grabbed a tree branch and knocked the attackers hand out of the way.

It was as if all the sound had gone away and time had slowed down as the figure jumped right in front of her face and turned toward her. She gasped as the familiar hazel eyes fell upon her and his silver hair flew out behind him. Then he disappeared into the trees, most likely coming around for a second attack. Swallowing her nervousness Yoshiko took a few steps away from trees toward the rest of the group. It wasn't until he had gone back into the trees that they had realized something was up.

"Who was that?" cried Sueko.

"It wasn't Kamatari, was it?" asked Sango.

"If it was Kamatari he would have gone after Sueko!" snapped Yoshiko, panic starting to take over.

'What is up with him?' she thought to herself, biting her lips. 'Did I do something? Is he mad at me…'

Before she could finish her thought he jumped out of the trees again this time with a strange looking sword. It had a curved hilt that seemed almost like a weapon within itself and a broad blade that had a dark aura around it. As the figure came at Yoshiko InuYasha pulled out his sword and blocked his attack. The figure jumped back, crouching down holding his sword at the ready. From slightly behind her Yoshiko could hear Sueko gasp and move to pull out her sword.

"What the hell are you doing?" cried InuYasha, stepping between the figure and Yoshiko.

"I thought you liked the other wench," smirked Sesshomaru, standing up straight. "Suddenly you're protecting somebody you don't even trust."

"Well…" said InuYasha, glancing over his shoulder at a shocked Yoshiko. "You're attacking somebody who…" He stopped and sighed, suddenly at a lack of words.

"Get out of my way," growled Sesshomaru.

"Why?" shouted InuYasha.

"My quarrel is with her, not you!" yelled Sesshomaru.

Suddenly he jumped forward, aiming a blow at Yoshiko's head but InuYasha pushed her out of the way and blocked the attack. Sesshomaru tried again but still InuYasha stopped the assault. Finally Sesshomaru got annoyed and tripped InuYasha, going at Yoshiko. She had enough sense to draw her own sword and try to block the attacks as she took steps backwards. Her arms wouldn't stop shaking as she took one blow after another. Soon they were deep inside the woods and the others were trying to keep up but were somehow obscured.

"Why are you doing this?" panted Yoshiko, dodging another blow by hiding behind a tree.

"You have something of mine," growled Sesshomaru, trying to chop off her head.

She jumped up into a tree and waited while Sesshomaru struggled to get his sword out of the tree. Then his eyes searched her out and she gasped when she saw that instead of them being hazel they were blue. In surprise she half fell out of the tree, but catching herself and landing on her feet. Quickly she had to jump out of the way of another attack, one that caused the ground to shake.

'I don't get it! He's normally faster than this!' thought Yoshiko, blocking another attack with her sword.

Because she wasn't expecting it when he hit her sword again it flew out of her hands and stuck into the ground. The smirk that spread across Sesshomaru's face seemed almost unrealistic. Before she could do anything else he swung the sword wide, sending her backwards into a tree. Yoshiko cried out as she slid down to the ground, bleeding freely from a wound in her stomach. She clenched her teeth and balled up her fists as she tried to ignore the pain.

"Now die!" cried Sesshomaru, bringing his sword down on her.

Before it hit her she closed her eyes and was able to crawl out of the way. He tried again but this time somebody blocked the attack. Opening her eyes she looked up to see InuYasha blocking the attack. Sesshomaru swore and ran away, soon disappearing.

"Yoshiko!" cried Sueko, running to her side and kneeling. "Oh, god!"

"It's not that bad," laughed Yoshiko, closing her eyes in pain.

"Damn! He got away," growled InuYasha, sheathing his sword. "Sorry we took so long. Somebody put up a barrier."

"She's hurt and you're apologizing!?" screeched Sueko. "Go get my book bag so we can take care of this!"

At that moment Yoshiko lost all consciousness, knowing only that Sueko was there and would take care of her.  
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"I'm back!" called Sueko as she entered the hut. Kaede was kneeling over a still-unconscious Yoshiko and InuYasha sat not too far away.

"That's new," he said, nodding at her grey sweatshirt.

"Well, my purple sweater got a whole bunch of blood on it and my mom couldn't wash it out so she got me a new one," shrugged Sueko.

InuYasha nodded to show that he understood and looked away as Sueko sat down opposite him on the other side of the hut. It had been three days since Yoshiko had been injured and Sueko had taken advantage of coming back to Kaede's village to go back home. In the mean time Miroku and Sango had been hanging out in the village or looking around for clues. So the only people he had had for company were Lady Kaede and Yoshiko, who hadn't woken up yet. He had hoped that by the time Sueko had returned the half tiger demon would have at least regained consciousness.

"How's she doing?" asked Sueko.

"Fine," said Kaede shortly, seeming to read InuYasha's thoughts. "I'm going to go fetch more water."

The silence in the hut was deafening as the two sat there praying that Yoshiko would show some sign of life. Neither said a word nor moved except to look at the girl's "sleeping" form. When the opening flap of the hut both moved, figured to see Kaede enter. Instead they found Sesshomaru standing in the doorway, his eyes resting on Yoshiko, a sort of sadness in his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" snapped Sueko, jumping to her feet. "Come to finish her off?"

InuYasha half expected Sesshomaru to glare at the girl but he just continued to stare at Yoshiko. Something in his gaze seemed familiar to InuYasha but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"I smelt her blood in the air and came to check it out," said Sesshomaru slowly.

"Likely story!" growled Sueko. InuYasha saw her hand move to her waist but then she sighed when she remembered she had left her sword out front. "What are you really doing here?"

For some reason InuYasha had a feeling his half brother hadn't been lying and since he didn't answer Sueko again he knew for sure. But just to make sure he stood up, ready to protect Sueko and Yoshiko. He hoped that maybe Sango or Miroku would show up soon. Instead, however, Sesshomaru just stepped farther into the room and let the flap close. For the first time since he had showed up he looked up and acknowledged that he knew the other two were there.

"How is her wound?" he asked, looking at InuYasha for the answer.

"Kaede can't get the bleeding to stop but we've gotten the fever to go down," sighed InuYasha.

"What!?" cried Sueko, turning now to face InuYasha. "You told me she was doing fine! I thought that meant she was doing better!"

"Yeah, well, compared to how she was doing before she is doing better!" shouted InuYasha. "We didn't want you to worry!"

"Here," said Sesshomaru, throwing two stones at Sueko's feet. She picked them up and showed them to InuYasha. They were like the Fire Stone that they had found a few days ago but one was blue and the other green. "Use those to stop the bleeding. Her attacker must have used the same weapon that was used on me."

"Oh, yeah, you should know!" snapped Sueko. "It was your weapon!"

As if in answer, Sesshomaru drew out his sword, Tokijin, and held it out for Sueko to see. She just raised her eyebrows and glanced at InuYasha who made no move for his sword.

"Your point?" she sighed.

"Does it look like the weapon that wounded her?" asked Sesshomaru patiently.

"Well… no…" muttered Sueko, going a bit pink. "But it still looked like! How do I know you don't have another sword?"

"How many swords can one person carry?" asked InuYasha. At the same time Sesshomaru sheathed his sword.

"So you're taking his side!?" cried Sueko.

"The guy that attacked was way slower than Sesshomaru," shrugged InuYasha. "Besides, he didn't smell right."

For a second it almost seemed like Sesshomaru was confused but he turned his gaze back upon Yoshiko. That was when InuYasha saw the bandages around Sesshomaru's left shoulder. He knit his brow trying to think how that could of happened.

"Who got close enough to injure you?" inquired InuYasha.

"Huh?" said Sueko, moving her eyes to Sesshomaru's shoulder.

Suddenly the hazel eyes that had looked so soft became hard as they turned toward InuYasha with anger in them. In surprise InuYasha took a step backwards.

"It looked like Yoshiko," he growled.

'What is going on here? If he knows it wasn't Yoshiko why does he seem like…' thought InuYasha.

"She didn't do it!" snapped Sueko.

"I know. For the same reason it wasn't me who wounded her," said Sesshomaru, back to his steady voice. InuYasha blinked in confusion.

"So… who was it?" muttered InuYasha.

"I don't believe you!" yelled Sueko.

"I'm open to all possibilities. You're just plain stubborn," said InuYasha. "Naraku was able to trick me and Kikyo into fighting. I think its quite possible Kamatari could as well."

"Does he have blue eyes?" asked Sesshomaru.

"No, he has grey eyes!" said Sueko, crossing her arms.

"Then there is somebody else as well," said Sesshomaru.

"Why would they care about you and Yoshiko, though?" asked InuYasha.

"Somebody has been watching us since Yoshiko left your group with her sword," said Sesshomaru, nodding toward Sueko. "And they attacked when I found one of those stones."

"But Yoshiko doesn't have any…" muttered InuYasha.

"Yes she does. In her dagger. But I still don't get it. If they wanted the stones why didn't they attack me?" asked Sueko.

"Because they thought it would be more fun to start a quarrel between us," said Sesshomaru, his eyes narrowing.

Before either could say anything in response he turned on his heels and started out. Half way through the door way he paused and looked over his shoulder. At first his eyes lingered on Yoshiko who was breathing easier ever since Sesshomaru had turned up. Then he turned his eyes to InuYasha.

"When she awakens tell her Rin would like to see her," he said softly before leaving the hut entirely.

InuYasha just shook his head in confusion and turned toward Sueko. Her eyes were wide in shock and disbelief. When she felt his eyes on her she swallowed and looked at him.

"This might sound weird to you but Yoshiko really likes him," she whispered.

"So?" shrugged InuYasha, taking the stones from Sueko's hand and setting them next to Yoshiko. Her eyes flickered open for a second and then she fell asleep.

"No, I mean really likes him! Likes him, likes him," cried Sueko exasperatedly.

"What rubbish are you sprouting?" said InuYasha, walking out of the hut and picking up Sueko's stuff and walking off.

"Where are you going!?" cried Sueko, running after him. "Wait up! I'm trying to tell you something!"

He sighed and stopped long enough for Sueko to catch up with him. Then he continued on his way. He didn't even giver her a side ways look but he could feel her glaring at him.

"Okay, I think Yoshiko loves him!" said Sueko dramatically.

"It's none of our business," snapped InuYasha.

"What's your problem?" cried Sueko.

"If they are in love that could get us killed! Me being in love with Kikyo almost got everybody killed all sorts of time but especially Kagome!" snapped InuYasha. "We can't save everybody, Sueko, and some times our friends are the hardest."

"I don't get it…" muttered Sueko.

"If it means that you're more likely to stay alive I don't think it's right to have Yoshiko around anymore," said InuYasha heavily. "Now come on. We need to find the others."


	14. Mixed Emotions

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**There was some problem when I uploaded the last chapter but I did fix it so if you happened to have read it before I found out about the problem, you should be able to read it now. Apparently not all of the chapter was loaded up…

If I just confused you then ignore me! But if there ever is an error in the update could you reply to say that there was an error, becausae I'll gladly fix it, but I can't fix it if I don't know something's wrong! And it'd be nice for you to reply anyways because it's just the polite thing to do.

Okay, I never edited this chapter because I've been really lazy lately. And I know that's a really lame excuse but with all the stress in my life lately I'm pretty lazy when I get the chance to do so, so…. yeah. Besides, Ravyn wrote this whole entire chapter so if there are any errors it's her fault, not mine! Ha!

Anyways, I don't really remember much about this chapter… it's been a while. What I do remember of it was that it was originally part of chapter twelve but that chapter was so long I had to cut out a part to make Chapter Thirteen. So if the beginning seems a bit choppy that'd be why. (This seems to be happening a lot lately… or maybe that's just me).

And while I'm at it, Ravyn made an AMV for our fan fic. An AMV is short for an Anime Music Video: you take a song, and a bunch of clips from an anime show, put it together and tada! You've got an AMV! They're really cool and Ravyn basically got a bunch of pictures together that deal with our fan fic and made one for Yoshiko and Sesshomaru (Yoshiko isn't in the real show so all pictures of her are drawn…but they're not ugly looking or anything). Anyways, if you DO want to download it, just go to **anime the spaces, of course). You'll have to register but it's free and no hassle, despite the fact they ask to donate money… it's called "Where Are You Now, Sesshomaru" and it uses the Michelle Branch song "Where Are You Now." I'm not trying to advertise or anything, I'm just saying Ravyn made the AMV and it's available for you to get. You don't have to get it if you want, I really don't care. But AMV's are seriously really cool so I'd check the website anyways. Then again, I'm really into music… but whatever. You have a fan fic to read! So read, enjoy, and reply of course!**

**DISCLAIMER  
**When hell freezes over I'll own InuYasha. Last time I checked hell wasn't freezing over, but you never know with the Global Warming. Anything from the shows and manga by Rumiko Takahashi (sorry if that's spelled wrong, I'm just spelling it out of the top of my head) she owns, not me. Or Ravyn. We're just borrowing. Don't mind us! Though I think if hell freezes over I should at least be able to _date_ InuYasha if that's not too much to ask… and I guess Ravyn can have Sesshomaru. I guess he's a nice guy and all, but just so not my type (except when his eyes go all red because he's about to transform. Then I beg to differ). However, anything you DON'T recognize from the works of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ and whoever makes it in Japan we own and you cannot have or we'll have no choice but to borrow the Tetsusaiga and blow you to pieces with the Wind Scar.

Anyways, I'm done writing my novel. You can go read my other novel, which is this fan fic. Cheers!  
-  
**Chapter Thirteen: Mix Emotions**

She had been young when she had first met Raoul. He had been a young farmer not too much younger than herself. Despite the obvious fact that she was part demon the young man had gone out of his way to make her feel invited in the village. At first it was uncomfortable because it reminded her of Godric and she head a lot of news about her younger brother.

But soon she found herself accepting the flowers and smiling at Raoul. The slightest touch made her face go red and for a while she forgot that any part of her was demon. She just wanted to be human, for him. In a way he wanted to make himself far more acceptable for her too. Flowers just didn't seem to be enough anymore.

So he started to build a house somewhat in the woods for them. Sometimes people came to help but mostly Raoul working on his own. She had known about it and often went down to spy on him. It was on one of these days that she watched as an ogre attacked. She tried to fend it off but Raoul had been reckless and gotten himself seriously injured. He died in her arms.

For days she wandered aimlessly when she stumbled across a woman with long black hair and brown eyes. She knew right away that this was a priestess but how she didn't know. The priestess seemed to understand the pain in her eyes and asked her to explain what had happened. When she had finished the priestess had given her some simple words of advice:

"Love is a complicated thing and sometimes it has a way of knocking you off your feet when you feel like you're on the right track. Maybe that was nature's way of telling you that there was someone else out there for you. But I know, for a while, this will only be words to you."  
-  
As Yoshiko's opened her eyes, her hand closed around two smooth rocks. Moaning, she sat up and looked down at her hands where a blue stone and a green stone lay. In surprise she recognized the green one as an Earth Stone, a stone very much like the one her father had once had. Yoshiko looked around the hut but saw no sign that any of the others were there. She thought at first that maybe they were off in the village but soon an old lady walked into the hut.

"Who are you?" asked Yoshiko, taking a cup of water the old lady offered her.

"My name is Kaede. I am a friend of InuYasha," explained the old lady, sitting down next to Yoshiko.

"Kaede… Aren't you Kikyo's little sister?" asked Yoshiko thoughtfully.

"Aye that I am. Ye knew my sister?" asked Kaede.

"I met her once. She gave me some advice on a topic I didn't even think she knew that much about. But it was good advice," muttered Yoshiko, taking a sip of the water. "Lady Kaede, where is InuYasha?"

"They left two days ago. You've been unconscious for five days," said Kaede.

"No wonder I'm so hungry."

"InuYasha wanted me to tell ye when ye awoke that Sesshomaru came to see ye," said Kaede, ladling out some soup from the pot over the fire. "He seemed awfully worried about ye and wanted ye to go see him when ye awakened. If it had not been for he ye would probably not have awaken."

"Does InuYasha want to get rid me so badly that he's willing to send me off to Sesshomaru?" laughed Yoshiko, eating a bit of the soup.

"He also says that it wasn't Sesshomaru who—" started Kaede.

"I know. It wasn't Sesshomaru. The person that attacked me was way too slow, the sword didn't look like Sesshomaru's and Sesshomaru doesn't have blue eyes," said Yoshiko, waving this away. She sighed and finished off her soup, wondering why exactly InuYasha had left her behind.  
-  
Trying to find Sesshomaru was like finding a needle in a haystack: it just wasn't possible. The best thing Yoshiko could do was walk around for a couple of hours and hope he would find her. As she was walking she found herself listening to a very odd sound. It was almost as if somebody was running so fast that their feet weren't touching the ground but they were moving and make noise. At first she willed it to be Sesshomaru but she knew almost at once that it wasn't. Suddenly right in front of her path came a whirlwind, which stopped and in its place stood Koga the wolf demon. In an instant Yoshiko's dagger was in her hand, ready to throw.

"What do you want?" snapped Yoshiko.

"I smelt your blood and followed it all the way over here," shrugged Koga. "Is mutt-face not treating you right?"

"No, it was my own stupid fault. I hesitated in a fight and got injured," muttered Yoshiko.

"Well, you're alive and that's all that really matters. Now, where exactly were you headed all alone?" asked Koga, grinning.

"I'm looking for somebody," explained Yoshiko, causing Koga to frown.

"You're not looking for dog-boy, are you?"

"No," said Yoshiko shortly. "Now, I don't have time for this. Leave me alone!"

"Why?" asked Koga, raising his eyebrows.

Right away Yoshiko thought about attacking the wolf demon. But a hand on her shoulder caused her to stop and spin around. Her eyes went wide when she found herself looking into the face of none other than Sesshomaru. His eyes swept over her as if checking to see if she was all right. In a way she did the same thing, but also to make sure it was him. Yoshiko noticed the bandage around his left shoulder but got no chance to question Sesshomaru about them.

"Your not nearly in the shape to be in a fight," said Sesshomaru softly, causing Yoshiko's heart to beat faster.

"Look who's talking. The one that made me train for three days right after I had gotten injured!" laughed Yoshiko, looking away.

"Those were ordinary injuries. This one is not," said Sesshomaru.

"You're InuYasha's older brother, aren't you?" said Koga.

"What is it to you?" asked Sesshomaru, as Yoshiko put her dagger away.

Koga shrugged as his eyes flickered to Yoshiko's face. She was trying, with difficulty, to keep herself from blushing. Sesshomaru's hand was still on her shoulder and, though nice, it was causing her heart to beat faster and faster.

"Can't seem to make up your mind? Do you hang out with dog-boy and his friends or him?" asked Koga.

"Well… um…" muttered Yoshiko, now going red. "InuYasha kind of left me behind. Not that I blame him. I haven't been that trustworthy. Keeping secrets, disappearing all the time…"

"We should get going," said Sesshomaru, taking Yoshiko's arm and started to walk back into the woods.

"I don't think so! She's _my_ woman!" snapped Koga.

Sesshomaru stopped and took his hand off Yoshiko's arm, to her relief (and disappointment). He turned toward Koga, his eyes narrowed. The wolf demon's hand moved to his sword as Sesshomaru advanced on him. Yoshiko found herself completely confused as Sesshomaru just stared Koga down almost as if he didn't like the idea that Koga liked her.

'I must not have healed completely yet. Maybe I've gotten a fever again,' thought Yoshiko.

"Leave," said Sesshomaru.

Yoshiko knew that Koga was quite stubborn and could definitely see a fight coming along. But the thing was that Sesshomaru was faster than Koga that he would probably cut off the wolf demon's head before he even drew his sword. Sure enough Koga started to draw his sword but Sesshomaru reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"We don't have to stoop to this. Just leave," he said.

"Fine. But I will come back!" snapped Koga, shooting Yoshiko one more glance before leaving in a gust of wind.

"There is only one reason he can run that fast," said Yoshiko. "He has a Wind Stone."

"It's best to keep the stones separated so Kamatari can't get them all at once," said Sesshomaru, staring after Koga.

"Yeah, he may be a jerk but he's still more on our side than on his side," said Yoshiko.

"Come. Rin is waiting," said Sesshomaru, walking into the trees.  
-  
Despite the obvious fact that Yoshiko had been otherwise occupied when the demon had attack Sesshomaru in her form he couldn't help but be wary. Ever since that day things hadn't felt right, as if something that he had kept locked up had come out and there was no way to put it back. It hadn't been his idea to see Yoshiko again; it had seriously been Rin's. If he could have helped it he would have avoided the half-demon all together. But since Rin felt like she needed to see Yoshiko to know if it had been her who attacked Sesshomaru had promised to check things out later.

When he smelt her blood, however, he lost all reason and had rushed off to find her. He had not thought about having to talk to InuYasha and his friends only that he may be able to keep Yoshiko alive. The only person before Yoshiko that he had ever felt so strongly about had been Rin. But then Rin had been kind to him and taken care of him even though she didn't have to. What has Yoshiko ever done for him? He owed her no debt for her life. Jaken had made it out to seem that he saved her life so she would owe him but that had never crossed his mind.

'Then why is it that I want her to look at me but when she does I look away?' thought Sesshomaru in frustration, watching as Rin ran forward to hug Yoshiko.

He sighed and started walking forward when Yoshiko turned toward him, smiling. Her face seemed like it was lit up from the inside and her eyes shone like emeralds. Sesshomaru paused pondering whether to look away or to continue watching. Standing not too far away was Jaken who had his arms crossed and looked upon the girls disapprovingly. Shaking his head he turned to Sesshomaru who finally started walked off.

"Well! Are you coming or not?" cried Jaken.

"Of course, Master Jaken. We're right be hind you!" called Rin.

For most of the time Sesshomaru found himself trying his best to avoid Yoshiko. It helped that she spent most of her day with Rin and her nights resting. He found himself wondering of what the point of bringing her along was. But when he saw the smile on Rin's face he knew for certain the reason. Besides that he felt calmer with her around, something that only caused to confuse him more.

One night he found himself standing not too far from where she sat against a tree, eyes closed, apparently asleep. The moon glinted in her orange hair, making it shine. As he continued to watch Sesshomaru suddenly thought to run his hand through her hair. But before he even started to move his hand Rin started to moan in her sleep and Yoshiko's eyes flew open instantly. She turned toward the sleeping girl's figure and gave a sort of half smile.

"Hey Rin," she said, moving a bit of black hair out of the girl's face.

Rin continued to mumble a few inaudible things while Yoshiko sat next to her, just stroking her hair. The girl's eyes were just starting to open when she cried out, "Mommy!" Yoshiko's eyes opened in surprise as Rin, still in a half sleep, sat up and started hugging her. When Rin's eyes finally opened Yoshiko had her sit in her lap.

"I though you were my mother," muttered Rin.

"You must have been dreaming," said Yoshiko, smiling, but still a little shaken by the sudden hug.

"It started out as a nightmare," sighed Rin. But suddenly she looked up at Yoshiko, smiling. "But it ended in a dream. Mother always told me that after I had a nightmare that she would be there when I woke up."

"What?" said a startled Yoshiko. "But I'm not-"

"Only my mother held me like this," murmured Rin, closing her eyes and resting her head against Yoshiko's shoulder. "Hey! It's almost the half moon," she added before falling asleep.

At Rin's last words, Yoshiko turned to look over her shoulder at the moon. The almost half moon reflected in her green eyes and her eyes narrowed. For the first time she seemed to actually notice that Sesshomaru was there. This time she didn't smile at him, but frowned. She sighed, leaning her back against the tree again.

"I should probably go tomorrow."

"Why?" asked Sesshomaru.

"Sueko's probably wondering where I am. Plus… there are other reasons," shrugged Yoshiko, looking back down at the sleeping Rin. "It's not like I'm just going to disappear. Maybe I'll leave around noon."

"If you want," muttered Sesshomaru, turning away.

"Are you okay?"

In surprise Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder to see Yoshiko looking at him with her eyebrows raised. He frowned at the same time she did.

"Why?" he asked.

"You've been awfully quiet, even for you. Plus you've been practically avoiding me since Koga!" snapped Yoshiko. "I don't like awkwardness! It makes me…" She paused and ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "It makes me feel like I didn't something wrong…"

As she trailed off she looked up and away, back toward the moon. Sesshomaru found himself wondering if maybe he should say something. But even if he did what would he say? He hardly even understood any of this himself. Finally he eyes moved away from Yoshiko up to the moon. What was there to say that she didn't all ready know?  
-  
"Must you leave, Lady Yoshiko?" asked Rin, practically hanging off the half tiger demon's arm.

"I can't hang around here all day. There are things I have to do!" cried Yoshiko, trying so hard not to laugh.

"What's so important that you can't do with us?" cried Rin, pulling on Yoshiko's hand.

"Well I have other friends I need to help. I'll come back though!" assured Yoshiko.

"You said that last time," complained Rin, dropping Yoshiko's hand and looking down at the ground.

"And I came back," laughed Yoshiko.

For a minute Rin did nothing but then she lifted up her head, grinning and said, "Right!"

"So you take care of yourself, okay? See you later!" called Yoshiko, waving at Sesshomaru and running off.

She didn't pause long enough to see if Sesshomaru would show any sign of noticing her departure. Most likely he wouldn't even give her a sign. At the most a small flicker of the eyes at her retreating back. If so she wouldn't even notice. She sighed and hung her head. It wasn't until she almost ran into a tree that she looked up again.

"Great! Now I have to figure out where I am!" cried Yoshiko, looking around. "What is up with him anyways? He's worried about me for ten seconds then suddenly doesn't seem to care that I'm within ten feet of him! Why do I even care?"

She moaned and hit her head against a tree just to try getting herself focused again. As she straightened up she heard somebody take a step forward. In a flash Yoshiko turned around, her sword drawn, just to find herself completely alone. For a minute she stood there but no other sign came of another person. Not even in the trees. Giving it up for a bird or some wild animal she sheathed her sword and continued to travel back to Kaede's village.

As always walking alone left a lot of time for thought. But as Yoshiko walked she didn't think about her brother. In fact she didn't think too far back than a couple of months. No this time she thought about Sesshomaru. Why was it that she had hesitated when that… thing that looked like Sesshomaru had attacked her? She had known it wasn't him. Yes it had taken a while but she figured it out. But there had been a part of her that hadn't seemed sure. Didn't want to make that mistake.


	15. Modern Day VS Feudal Japan

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Okay, here's a bit of light-heartedness. If you can't already tell by the chapter title, Sueko goes back home… so there's more Tamika and Keitaro! Have fun with that! And just to let you know, the ending is really weird, I know, but whatever. I'll explain it in the next post if it confuses you greatly… 

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I guess I've just been caught up in other things. Thanks, **ICYGIRL**, for the reply. I didn't think my characters were THAT original, but whatever… and thanks **BlackTearsOfDarkness** for being a faithful replier. Here's more!

I really like how I begun this chapter. Not really original since similar things have happened on the original show but whatever, I still liked it! Hope you like it to. :D

**DISCLAIMER  
**When I get 1st lunch again I'll own InuYasha. It's the new semester so we got new schedules. I used to have 1st lunch with all my friends but now I have 2nd lunch… and I swear all those people are jerks except for like one or two people that I can't have conversations with that well. And since I already tried and failed at getting a schedule change, I guess I'll never have 1st lunch with my best friend ever (at least in my freshman year). Anyways, if you haven't seen this stuff from any of Rumiko Takahashi's stuff, we own it. So don't steal! MY PRECIOUS! 

((Sorry, I'm in a _Lord of the Rings_ mood. ))

Okay, I need to get off the computer soon, so I should probably stop writing and upload the darn thing onto so you can read it! Hope you likey!  
-  
**Chapter Fourteen: Modern Day VS. Feudal Japan**

"Come on! Please? It'll only be for a little while—a week at the most—I promise!"

"No!"

"Look, do you actually think I want to do this? I'm only doing so because otherwise my dad'll kill me!"

"No!"

In response to InuYasha's foul expression and cranky tone, Sueko hit him aside the head.

"What was _that_ for?" growled InuYasha, glaring at Sueko.

"You're being a insufferable jerk!" Sueko cried, putting her hands on her hips. "I didn't even think you wanted me around but now you're whining when I want to go home for a week—a _week_! That's only seven days! It's not seven _years_! And it might only take three days, anyways!"

"You don't _need_ to go back to your own time!" snapped InuYasha, crossing his arms. "We're busy enough as it is! We don't need you leaving too!"

"But I have to take the final exam! If I don't take it I'll fail and then my dad will probably never let me come back here!" yelled Sueko.

"And why would that be?" snarled InuYasha.

"Maybe because he thinks I should be getting good grades but I'm not smart enough to get them so I don't bother to do any of the work so then I fail! The least I can do is take the exams so I have at least sixty percent!" hollered Sueko.

"At least that's a better excuse than Kagome's," muttered InuYasha, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, don't go bringing _her_ up again!" Sueko shouted.

InuYasha opened his mouth to say something but before a word could come out Miroku had gotten up and hit him on the head with his staff. But before Sueko could go, "Ha-ha!" Miroku hit her on the head too.

"What was that for!" both InuYasha and Sueko cried out, rubbing their heads.

"Behave yourselves, you two," said Miroku sternly, looking solemn. "If Sueko wants to go back to her own time then let her, InuYasha. And Sueko… er… don't call InuYasha a jerk."

"Humph!" cried Sueko, who grabbed her book bag and went straight to the well without another word, seeing how they were only a few feet away from the well in the first place. It wasn't until she had fallen through the well and was just leaving the shrine it was in that what she had just said to InuYasha hit her.

"Was I really that rude?" Sueko muttered to herself as she slid the wooden doors closed. A wave of guilt hit her as she remembered the last thing she had shouted…

"_Oh, don't go bringing _her_ up again!"_

She really shouldn't have brought up Kagome. That was just… well, _mean_.

'Now he probably won't want me back at _all_!' thought Sueko miserably.

Sighing, Sueko walked towards her house, trying to put on a happy face for her family's "Welcome back!"  
-  
Sueko lamely hit the snooze button five times the next day before grudgingly getting up and taking a shower. Getting dresses, having WW3 with her hair and grabbing a Poptart while saying good-bye to her mother, Sueko headed towards the door wishing that she didn't have school today and that she didn't have to wear a skirt. But just as she was lifting her hand to open the door the doorbell rang.

She almost dropped the Poptart in surprise. What was InuYasha doing _here_! Isn't he supposed to be mad at her!

'Wait a second…' thought Sueko. 'InuYasha probably doesn't even know how to _use_ a doorbell, so it can't be him!'

Puzzled, Sueko put her hand on the doorknob and opened it, and this time she _did_ drop her Poptart in surprise upon seeing who was standing there.

"T—Tamika? What on earth are you doing at my house!" cried Sueko, leaning on the door for support. "On second though, how do you even know where I _live_?"

"You said you lived next to the shrine!" said Tamika. "How many shrines are there in Tokyo?"

"You got a point there…" said Sueko. After a moments pause she added, "Why are you here, anyways?"

"To visit…" said Tamika. "You've been gone for ages! Where have you been? You're mom said you had breast cancer—"

"BREAST CANCER!" cried Sueko. "You think _I'd_ get breast cancer if I have nothing there to get cancer!"

"Um…"

"I was in Feudal Japan! You know, through the well to fifteenth century Japan…" explained Sueko. Then, seeing Tamika's plain expression, she added, "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Well…" Tamika said thoughtful. "Keitaro did say—"

"I know it's hard to believe but it's true, okay?" said Sueko, sighing. After a sort of awkward silence Sueko, noticing Tamika's blue shirt with wide sleeves and light blue wavy skirt to match, asked, "Why aren't you in your uniform?"

"The question is, why are you in yours?" said Tamika, grinning brightly.

"Huh?"

"There's no school, silly!" said Tamika, putting a hand on Sueko's shoulder. "Winter Break started three day's ago!"

"Wh—wh—wha?" blinked Sueko.

"Today's the nineteenth!" laughed Tamika.

"But—but mom said there was school today!" cried Sueko in disbelief.

"Sorry…" said Tamika comfortingly.

"Wait… what are you doing over at my house at seven o'clock in the morning, then?" asked Sueko.

"Oh… well, I always get up around six…" said Tamika. Then she laughed at Sueko's expression (who was gapping at Tamika like she was an idiot). "Okay, do I get to come in there or are we just going to stand here all day? Because we have some business to attend to!"

"What do you mean by 'business'?" said Sueko suspiciously, but she stepped aside so Tamika could come inside.

Tamika didn't respond until they were in Sueko's room. Then, sitting on her bed and petting Neko the cat, which had jumped up to sniff Tamika before deciding she was safe, Tamika said, "Well… I was thinking of going shopping."

"Um… with me, I take it?" said Sueko, changing into a normal outfit (some worn out jeans and a white t-shirt because for some reason all her other clothes were in the laundry…).

"Yep!" said Tamika, moving her hand away from Neko, who had decided to start licking her hand. Upon moving the hand, Neko sat up on her hind legs and held up her paw, attempting to push Tamika's hand back down so she could continue licking it. "You have a very—erm—_unique_ cat…"

"I know," said Sueko, sitting beside Tamika and putting Neko down on the ground. "She thinks she's a dog…"

"So, do you have any money to spend?" Tamika asked casually.

"Not really but I'm pretty sure mom would lend me some. Why?"

"So we can go shopping! Duh!" cried Tamika.

"Oh. Um… Tamika? It's seven a.m. What kind of stores are open at seven in the morning?"

"Well, I was thinking of having you come over to my house for a bit," said Tamika, "unless Keitaro's still mad at me…"

"Why would he be mad at you?" asked Sueko.

"Because she broke my computer!"

Sueko's head jerked up. The sight at her door made her fall off the bed.

"Keitaro, look what you made Sueko do!" cried Tamika, leaning over to pull Sueko back up, who was blushing profusely.

"Keitaro! What in God's name are you doing here!" cried Sueko, trying to look dignified even though she had just fallen off her bed and her face was bright red.

"I followed Tamika," shrugged Keitaro, who sat next to his sister on the bed.

"I thought you were mad at her…" said Sueko, confused.

Keitaro paused before answering. That was because Neko, who had been sitting next to Tamika's feet until Keitaro had entered the room, was now standing as far as possible from the bed, hissing at Keitaro and making weird yelping noises.

"What in the hell is up with that cat!" cried Keitaro, raising an eyebrow at it.

"Oh… she usually doesn't like guys. I have no clue why…" said Sueko, waving a hand aside. "Neko doesn't even really like my dad that much, and he lives here! Actually, he's at work all the time…"

"Is it hurt?" asked Tamika, looking concerned at the cat as it continued to hiss and yelp.

"I think it's trying to bark…" said Sueko. "I already told you, she thinks she's a dog!"

"You never told me that," said Keitaro.

"You weren't in the room…" muttered Tamika.

"Oh. Right."

"Anyways… if you're mad at her then why did you follow her?" Sueko asked.

"Um… uh…"

Apparently Keitaro was clueless as to why he did, in fact, follow his sister.

"Oh, you know you wuv me, don't yah?" cried Tamika, hugging Keitaro and rubbing his head with her fist.

"Hey! Stop that! Get off me! You're choking me!"

Sueko burst out laughing as Keitaro managed to wrestle his twin sister off. He crossed his hands and wore a cross expression so much like InuYasha's that it only made Sueko laugh harder.

"I'm glad my torturing entertains you," muttered Keitaro. This didn't help with Sueko's laughing fit.

"Breathe, Sueko, _breathe_!" cried Tamika.

Sueko gasped between bursts of laughter, "Tamika… shut… up!"

After Sueko managed to catch her breath again and calm down, she asked, "So, Tamika, you broke Keitaro's computer? How'd you manage that?"

"Well… I didn't really mean to break it…" started Tamika, but Keitaro broke her off.

"I was just sitting on the couch, minding my own business, you know? I had my laptop plugged in while watching TV—so I wouldn't waste the battery—and the Tamika just walks over to bug me, trips on the cord, and the computer just happens to fall on the one edge of the sofa where it would hit the plasma screen and break it! So now I can't even get it to work so I can't access any of my files!"

"I said I was sorry…" muttered Tamika.

"Maybe you should have just made it to where the cord wasn't stretching out, so no one would have to worry about tripping over it…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"I didn't ask for a lecture," muttered Keitaro, glaring at Sueko. This too reminded her of InuYasha so she started laughing again.

"What's so funny?" muttered Keitaro.

Sueko stopped laughing and said, "I'm sorry! I really am! It's just… you're acting exactly like InuYasha!"

"Who?" said Tamika and Keitaro at exactly the same time (well, they _are_ twins…).

"InuYasha! The half-dog demon!" cried Sueko exasperatedly.

"Erm…" said Tamika and Keitaro awkwardly, both wearing the same "How do I say this?" sort of expression and scratching the back of their head.

"Okay, that's it!" cried Sueko, standing up. "I'm going to go down that well and bring proof that there really is a way for me to get to Feudal Japan!"

"I thought only you could go down the well…" muttered Keitaro.

"Nope! InuYasha can too!"

"Of course…"

"Um… Sueko?" Tamika asked timidly. "Uh… can you do that later? Like, after the shopping thing?"

Sueko sighed and sat back down. "I guess. Besides, he's mad at me so he would never do it anyways."

"Did you break his computer too? Because if you did then that really makes sense," said Keitaro, glaring at Tamika, who stuck her tongue out at him.

"I don't think he knows what a computer is…" said Sueko. "He's from the 15th century!"

"Oh… right…"

"Anyways, let's go!" cried Tamika, standing up and pulling Sueko and Keitaro to their feet.

"What?" said Sueko and Keitaro blankly as they tried to keep up with Tamika as she ran downstairs.

"Shopping!" was all she said.

"Shopping? Why would I want to go shopping with you?" Keitaro cried.

"Wait! I have to ask my mom if it's okay!" cried Sueko.

"You can go dear!" Sueko heard her mother cry out. Sueko rolled her eyes exasperatedly and did her best not to trip and fall down the steps outside the house.

"What about money?" cried Sueko.

"Oh, shut up already!" cried Tamika.  
-  
A couple hours later she had finally arrived at Kaede's village. For a minute Yoshiko hesitated. She had never really entered the village before. She had just been in Kaede's hut for the time that she rested to heal. Other than that the closest she had come to it was the well that Sueko went through to go to her own time. Plus she had no idea if they were here anyways.

But as she came closer to the hut that Kaede lived in she heard familiar voices. It sounded like Miroku and Sango were discussing Kamatari and how they were going to deal with him. InuYasha had been a part of the conversation but as Yoshiko drew closer he stopped. For a minute she hesitated then decided to continue toward the hut.

'What is up with me? They're my friends, right?' thought Yoshiko, taking a deep breath.

Before she could even reach out to move the flap to go inside the hut InuYasha suddenly appeared. In surprise Yoshiko took a step back, eyes wide. At first it seemed like InuYasha was mad at her. But then he rolled his eyes.

"What took you so long? I figured you go see Sesshomaru then come back!" he snapped.

"Sorry. I guess I lost track of time," shrugged Yoshiko.

Behind InuYasha she could see Miroku and Sango peering to try and get a good look at her. Then she realized what they had just said.

"Hey! Why should I have to explain myself to you? You're supposed to be worrying about Sueko in that sort of way!" snapped Yoshiko, glaring at InuYasha. "Besides, what's it matter how much time I spend with Sesshomaru?"

"Wh-what?" cried InuYasha, taking a step back and going red in the face.

Suddenly Miroku was standing behind him, grinning mischievously.

"I see. So you have a thing for Sueko, do you?" he inquired.

"What would Kagome think?" muttered Sango, shaking her head.

"For your information she doesn't really mind!" snapped InuYasha, turning toward him. Then he stopped, realizing what he said. Everybody stopped to stare at him in confusion. "At least… I don't think she would mind…" tried InuYasha, shrugging.

"Well she's all ways has been a very forgiving girl," said Kaede.

"I don't see how she could stand you going after Kikyo," muttered Sango.

"Kikyo… Did she really love you too, InuYasha?" asked Yoshiko, sitting down in the hut, staring off in thought.

"How the hell…" started InuYasha. Then he looked down at Yoshiko and stopped. "I think so… why?"

"Well she gave me some advice on love and I wondered where she got it from," shrugged Yoshiko.

"Advice?" said Sango. "You mean, you met Kikyo?"

"Yeah. She said it complicated and even though it doesn't make sense it's all for a good reason," said Yoshiko.

"Sounds about right," muttered InuYasha, crossing his arms.

Yoshiko looked up smiling. But her smile held a bit of a hint of sadness. In an attempt of change the subject Miroku cleared his throat.

"So, what made you come back?" he asked.

"Oh. Tonight's the half moon," muttered Yoshiko, looking away in ashamed.

"Feh," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "And you didn't want to let Sesshomaru to know? You realize he'll probably figure it out."

"Yeah but… Oh I don't know! I needed to get away so I could think properly. Or something… Argh! I'm so confused!" cried Yoshiko, dropping her head into her hands.

"Well Sueko's in her time at the moment. When she comes back you can ask her for help to get these things sorted out," muttered InuYasha.

Suddenly Yoshiko looked up, eyes narrowed.

"What did she tell you?" she hissed.

"Uh…"

"Maybe I shouldn't have come back!" shouted Yoshiko, jumping to her feet and starting out of the hut.

But right then Sango stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. Yoshiko looked over her shoulder at Sango's smiling face and rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"We could talk," said Sango kindly.

"Yeah… but…" stammered Yoshiko.

She didn't get it. Every time she came back something was different. Somebody new trusted her. Or she missed something important that they had to catch her up on. Somebody was in love with somebody. And every time she was just ever more confused. The past 12 years she had been completely alone, use to being completely alone. Now suddenly, for the first time since Godric, there were people that were starting to accept her again. Somehow she just didn't understand it.

"Come on," said Sango, taking Yoshiko's hand and walking off into the woods.

They walked in silence for a little while before Sango finally stopped and sat down on a log. They were, in fact, not that far from the well. Yoshiko hesitated, hovering over the demon slayer for a while. Then Sango grinned and patted the empty space next to her. Yoshiko took it awkwardly.

"Why are you trusting me?" she asked suddenly. Sango laughed.

"Because you haven't given me any reason not to trust you," she said. "And Sueko trusts you."

"I guess…" muttered Yoshiko.

"Are you saying I shouldn't trust you?" asked Sango, raising her eyebrows.

"No! That's not what I'm saying at all!" cried Yoshiko.

"Okay, okay. Clam down," said Sango, holding up a hand. "So, what exactly are you afraid that Sueko told InuYasha?"

"Um…" said Yoshiko, blushing. She wasn't sure if she should tell Sango. She wasn't even sure if InuYasha had taken it well. Or if he had even understood what it was Sueko was telling him. "Well… it has to do with Sesshomaru…"

"I saw him after he came to see how you were doing," shrugged Sango. "Didn't look like he was there to kill anybody. So what is it?"

"Well… Sueko thinks… that… I may… like him," said Yoshiko, her cheeks turning even brighter red.

"Love isn't just complicated is also confusing," said Sango, with a sad smile. "You find yourself falling in love with the strangest people and can't even tell yourself why. But if you think about it long enough, it makes perfect sense!"

Yoshiko was a bit taken a back. Though Sango's voice was solemn she looked up smiling.

'How is it that everybody here seems to know so much about something like love?' thought Yoshiko.

"So InuYasha has a thing for dead girls," shrugged Yoshiko. "What's the big deal there?"

"Maybe you can tell me why I like a perverted monk," laughed Sango.

Yoshiko blinked many times before finally saying, "You like Miroku?"

"Strange, huh?" said Sango, looking away again. "I never did anything about it because I had been too into trying to save my little brother, Kohaku. Now he's gone and I should probably do something about my feelings. Except now we have Kamatari to deal with."

"You had a little brother?" murmured Yoshiko.

"Yes. He didn't deserve his fate. Kohaku had always been a kind boy that didn't really want to be a demon exterminator. But Naraku had him kill our best fighters, then get killed himself. Then Naraku brought him back to life, using a Shikon Jewel Shard to keep him alive."

"My brother became a healer. He was the son of a great warrior and he decided to become a doctor instead. But after our father went off and got himself killed after his second wife died the villagers didn't want me around anymore. When I fought them off in self defense Godric asked me to leave. He still became a famous healer but because he lived alone a demon came a killed him when he was 19. That was a year ago."

"What do you think killed your little brother?" asked Sango.

"Well… some demon that expected to get an element stone. My village was the protector of the Earth Shrine so my father had one of those stones. I guess what ever demon got his stone figured to get one out of his son as well," shrugged Yoshiko. "I don't really care. Revenge isn't going to do any good."

"Well… no… but it might make you feel better," muttered Sango.

"If I thought it would then I would have gone after this demon," said Yoshiko. "But I have reason to believe Godric made me leave so I wouldn't get involved in his life anymore because he was afraid I would get hurt. I didn't want him to get involved in mine after I left either. To me, he's been dead for 12 years and it doesn't matter anymore."

There was a moment of silence between them while they both sorted out what had just been said. Then Yoshiko stood up and looked down at Sango.

"So, when's Sueko coming back?" asked Yoshiko, feeling a bit awkward. She hadn't even told Sueko about her brother.

"Well…" said Sango.

"What happened this time?" sighed Yoshiko exasperatedly.

"InuYasha didn't want Sueko to go back but she said she had to so she could get good grades so her father didn't get mad at her," explained Sango. "Then InuYasha said that was a better excuse than Kagome's. For some reason that made Sueko mad because she snapped 'don't bring her up again.' Then she left."

"WHAT?" cried Yoshiko. "And InuYasha didn't even apologize?"

"Well... no. Miroku didn't give him time. Plus he wouldn't anyways," shrugged Sango. "What does it matter anyways?"

"They're so stubborn! At this rate they'll never get together!" shouted Yoshiko, her hands in fist.

With that she started her way back down to the village, stomping her feet as she went. A few villagers stared out their doorways but retreated in fear. When Yoshiko finally reached the hut she stormed in.

"InuYasha!" she shouted. "You're going to go and apologize to Sueko RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

"Wh-what did I do?" cried InuYasha, half way through eating a fish.

"Sango just told me what you said to her before she left! So now I'm saying if you don't go and apologize I'm going to force you down that well, block it up so you can't come back and keep your sword!" snapped Yoshiko. "Now get going!"

Miroku leaned it to whisper, "I would do what she has to say so she doesn't rip your head off."

"Uh…. Okay…" muttered InuYasha, slowly getting to his feet and walking out of the hut past Yoshiko without taking his eyes off her.

"You can be quite scary, you know," said Sango, coming in after Yoshiko.

"It was all an act," laughed Yoshiko, grinning.

"I will never understand you," muttered Miroku, shaking his head.  
-  
By the end of the day Tamika had spent about a hundred dollars on Sueko's "new wardrobe" because Tamika thought that Sueko's clothes were too "tom-boyish," and Tamika had talked Sueko's mom into letting Sueko spend the night at her house. And Keitaro was more grouchy then usual because he had followed a bunch of girls all day long while they did girly things—though why he just didn't go home Sueko didn't know. But there was one thing she was sure of.

"There's no way I'm going to wear half those clothes!" Sueko cried out for the millionth time as Tamika forced her into the bathroom to try on yet another outfit. (She had already tried them on, seeing how they were at Tamika's house and the clothes were already paid for, but Tamika wanted to see what each of the outfits looked like together, to the annoyance of Sueko, of course).

"Oh, come on!" cried Tamika happily, shoving Sueko into the bathroom with a handful of clothes before closing the door shut behind her. "You look so adorable in a skirt! Why you hate them so much I'll never know…"

"Skirts are great!" said Sueko from behind the bathroom door. "It's just when they're on me they aren't!"

"What I don't get," said Keitaro, crossing his arms and leaning on the door (if Sueko wasn't in the bathroom putting on clothes she probably would have started laughing again at Keitaro's imitation of InuYasha), "is why you could spend all that money on a bunch of girly things your friend doesn't even want but you can't replace my computer which you broke!"

"I didn't mean to!" cried Tamika innocently. "Besides, can't you just go on ebay and get a computer a zillion times better then yours for about fifty dollars?"

"I could… IF I HAD A COMPUTER TO GET ON EBAY IN THE FIRST PLACE!" bellowed Keitaro.

"Stop arguing, you two!" cried Sueko, opening the door. "You sound like a pair of newlyweds!"

"Hello, we're related!" cried Keitaro.

"Oh, you look so adorable!" cried Tamika, putting her hands together and wearing an expression full of pride.

"Come on! Red and orange so do not go together! I can't believe you spent twenty dollars on an orange skirt!" cried Sueko, crossing her arms. "And it's _way_ too small!"

"That's the point, though!" cried Tamika. "It's a mini skirt! It's _mini_! It's supposed to make boys attracted to you!"

"I don't want boys attracted to me!" cried Sueko. "How am I supposed to stay invisible to the world if I'm wearing an orange mini skirt!"

Tamika ignored the last comment and turned to Keitaro. "Hey, Keitaro, don't you think Sueko looks attractive?"

"Um…" said Keitaro. "You are asking me _why_?"

"I need a man's opinion!"

"Oh… um… I guess so? I don't know, Tamika!"

"Are we done making me play dress up or not?" Sueko demanded.

"Fine! You two be a bunch of party poopers already!" said Tamika, rolling her eyes.

"Um… Tamika? Where are my clothes?"

"What?"

"You know, the ones I had on before?"

"Oh. I threw them away!"

"WHAT?"

"Oh, come on!" said Tamika, putting a hand on Sueko's shoulder and steering her towards her bedroom (Keitaro following sulkily behind). "I don't want to know how many holes that pair of jeans had! And that shirt was just way too small! You have a whole bunch of new clothes now!"

"Those were my favorite jeans!" cried Sueko as Tamika pushed her on the bed.

"Obviously…" muttered Keitaro, sitting on the desk chair and rolling his eyes.

"And may I point out that I have all new fancy shirts, all new nice skirts which I look God-awful in, but no pants! No normal shirts! I don't find it easy to swing a sword and cut a demons head off while wearing a mini skirt!" cried Sueko.

"What? Demons?" blinked Tamika.

"Never mind…" said Sueko. Then, to break the silence that lingered afterwards, she said, "I can't believe your parents let you have people over when they aren't home!"

"Oh. Dad doesn't care what we do, as long as it doesn't involve drugs, murder, sex, or breaking things," said Keitaro clearly as though he had said the same exact phrase so many times he had learned it by heart.

"What about your mom?" asked Sueko.

"I don't know about her. She's kinda dead…" said Tamika.

"She's dead?" cried Sueko.

"Yeah. But it's not sad or anything," said Tamika. "Well, I guess it is, but we don't remember her. She died having us."

"But the way dad goes on and on about her I'll assume that she wouldn't mind about us being alone with people over but would be extremely worried, like the moms on TV," said Keitaro thoughtfully.

"You know how weird that sounds?" said Sueko.

"I bet mom would think you look so adorable in your new outfit!" cried Tamika, putting her hands together and looking proud again.

"Um… Tamika? Yeah, um, red and orange don't go together!" cried Sueko, waving a hand in front of Tamika's face.

Tamika frowned. "I can see, you know."

Keitaro opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the front door (it couldn't be from Tamika's door because it was open and no one was there). He then said, "Who could that be?"

"Dad's friend from work?" said Tamika, shrugging.

Curiously, the three left Tamika's bedroom and walked over to the apartment door. Keitaro put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

Sueko felt her whole body go numb. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't think. But then suddenly tears were falling down her face and she ran up to hug the figure at the door.

"I'm really, really, really sorry!" Sueko cried out, hugging the person harder as tears continued to fall down her face. "I shouldn't have yelled at you! I really didn't mean what I said about—"

Keitaro interrupted Sueko's babbling to ask, "Who are you?"

"What are you wearing?" Tamika demanded to know.

"Erm…" started InuYasha, pulling Sueko off him while trying his best to look dignified with his pink cheeks. "What in the hell are you doing? I just came here to apologize! And what does it look like I'm wearing!" he cried, glaring at Tamika.

"It looks like a kimono to me," said Keitaro, "though why he's wearing one I have no clue. And I'm at a loss with the hair length too."

"You're not mad at me?" cried Sueko, rubbing her eyes hastily and attempting to hide her joy at InuYasha being here and not being mad at her.

"No! Why would I be mad at you?" cried InuYasha.

"Because I got mad at you mentioning Kagome…" said Sueko timidly.

"Oh. That. Well, Kagome did that a lot with Kikyo so it doesn't really matter," said InuYasha. "Besides, I'm sorta over her now."

"Hello to you too," said Tamika, waving.

"Oh!" said Sueko brightly, smiling. "Keitaro, Tamika: you wanted proof that I go down a well to Feudal Japan, right? Well, here's my proof!" And then she held her arms out at InuYasha in a "Tada!" sort of way.

InuYasha raised his eyebrows at her and Keitaro and Tamika blinked in confusion.

"Um… what's so special about him?" asked Tamika.

"Well, besides the odd hairdo," added Keitaro, making InuYasha glare at him.

"You don't see the doggy ears?" cried Sueko in disbelief.

"That'd be because I'm wearing a…. um…" tried InuYasha, but he seemed to have forgotten what the thing on top of his head was called.

"It's a baseball hat," said Sueko. "Where'd you get it, anyways?"

"You're mom gave it to me," shrugged InuYasha. "She also told me where you were, too, and how to get here… Plus you have a very distinctive smell so it wasn't that hard. Except your scent is _everywhere_… have you been all over town today or what?"

"Sorta…" said Sueko sheepishly.

"Okay, this is all very confusing…" said Tamika.

Sueko pulled off the hat on InuYasha's head and said, "See, dog ears. Wow, so amazing…"

"Oh!" cried Tamika, looking at them. "Are they real?"

"Of course they aren't real!" cried Keitaro exasperatedly. He rolled his eyes as Tamika reached over and rubbed InuYasha's ears playfully.

"Hey! Get off! I never said you could touch them!"

Just as Sueko pulled Tamika off InuYasha Keitaro walked over to InuYasha, crossed his arms and glared at him. Sueko had absolutely no clue what he was up to but it was an amusing sight to watch as InuYasha copied Keitaro—though he didn't look angry like Keitaro, just bored. Then suddenly Keitaro was uncrossing his arms and walking around InuYasha, lifting up his arms, smelling his outfit, picking up his hair, and pulling on his ears slightly. InuYasha rolled his eyes exasperatedly at all of this but when Keitaro tried to pull out the Tetsusaiga he glared and showed his claws threateningly.

"The sword is off-limits, Keitaro," said Sueko, pulling Keitaro away from InuYasha.

It was just then that the front door opened, and the sound made InuYasha jump up in surprise. Tamika's eyes widened and she cried out, "Yay, your home!" and ran over to the person standing at the door.

He was a very tall man with a narrow and long face, pointy chin, with an unshaven look on his face. Sueko found it really random that Tamika had ran over and hugged the guy, even though she figured he must be her dad.

The man looked surprised that Tamika had hugged him yet at the same time he didn't as though he was used to it. Sueko couldn't figure out how he could look surprised and not at the same time and thinking about it hurt her head. But then once Tamika let go and backed away a few paces the man asked, "So, who are these two people standing before me?"

It was then that Sueko's eyes widened and she hastily shoved the hat back on InuYasha's head while praying to God their dad didn't notice the doggy-ears.

Keitaro said in a rather bored voice, "That's Sueko, Tamika's friend, and that's… uh… InuYasha, I think is what his name is…"

"Yeah," said InuYasha in annoyance.

There was an extremely awkward silence after that—well, it wasn't really awkward, it just felt that way to Sueko. In fact, it was she who broke the silence as she cleared her throat nervously and said, "Um… I've got to be right back…" and she grabbed InuYasha's sleeve and rushed out of the room as quickly as she could.

"Are you okay?" InuYasha inquired as Sueko closed the door to Tamika's bedroom and sighed in relief. Though she must have made the wrong turn in her rush because the sheets were different and there wasn't as much blue or butterflies or girlie things that Tamika had in her room as there were in this room. There was a ton of shelves packed with DVD's, CD's and books, a bunch of posters of so many things (though there were quite a few Star Wars ones), and a table that was so full of clutter that Sueko wouldn't have been able to find anything on it. But just behind all the rubble you could see all the fancy technology equipment that any true computer geek owns which made Sueko realize that this had to be Keitaro's room.

Sueko blinked as a hand was waved in front of her face, and after looking as his impatient face she remembered what he had asked and said, "Oh, yeah, I'm okay…"

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm extremely sure," said Sueko, her temper rising. Then she sighed and slumped onto Keitaro's bed. (They looked like they were Star Wars sheets, which was extremely weird but at the moment she really didn't care).

"There's just too much happening in a very short time period, that's all," said Sueko.

"I just came here to apologize… about what happened before you left," said InuYasha. He looked a bit awkward though Sueko couldn't imagine why.

"That's okay. You didn't need to. I should be the one to apologize…" muttered Sueko.

"But you didn't do anything wrong!" said InuYasha.

"I did too! I said a whole bunch of really mean things that I really shouldn't have said," cried Sueko.

"But I shouldn't have even started yelling at you in the first place!" argued InuYasha.

"I'm the one who had to make the remark on Kagome," said Sueko shamefully. "I mean…"

"I already told you," said InuYasha clearly. "I don't mind about that!" He sighed, and went over to sit next to Sueko. "I mean, I miss her and I don't want her dead and all that, but I don't really mind it as much anymore. She's always sort of there with me anyways…"

Another silence appeared after that, and Sueko was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one who found it awkward. She could see InuYasha looking around the room curiously, which was a bit of a relief to Sueko because she felt as though she was about to cry but wasn't quite sure why she would want to cry.

Eventually InuYasha stood up and said, "Well… I think it would be best if I went back to my time…"

Sueko wanted really bad to stop him from leaving, but it probably was for the best. But she felt torn in two as she said, "Yeah, I guess you have too…"

Once they had said good-bye and Sueko was alone in Keitaro's bedroom, she was got up off the bed and went back to where Tamika and Keitaro were, wiping away the few tears that had escaped off her face with her sleeve.


	16. Everyone's Strange Behavior

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
I'm really bored and have nothing else to do so I'm going to post more again today! (I posted the last chapter yesterday… for me that is). This is a really weird chapter… which is why we called it "Everyone's Strange Behavior." First Ravyn wrote Yoshiko acting really weird… and then when I wrote my part they were all acting weird too… and so does the person that I won't mention that shows up in this post (give you a hint: It's NOT Harry Potter ;) )… everyone's just acting weird! They're all in character, they're just really weird… I guess this is sort of classified as a "filler chapter" but we're going to have something big happen pretty soon so that's okay. 

Thanks, **element hanyou**, for your reply. That's two new readers in two days! Thanks everybody for all the praise! I actually find it surprising that this is the only fan fic I've seen with original characters. I mean, the Harry Potter one's have a gazillion: an original character dating Harry, or Ron, or Hermione, or Malfoy, or Sirius, or Remus… (sorry, I got Harry Potter Valentine's Cards because I'm such a dork and now that's what's on my mind) but with InuYasha it's always InuYasha/Kagome and Kagome or Rin/Sesshomaru (which, by the way, I find so wrong but whatever). But I never really liked Kagome (she's so annoying! And she's suffering from some sort of multipersonality disorder like Smeagol: She's happy, she's sad… then she's mad! Oh, look, she's tired…. Happy…. Caring…. Oh, now she's angry! Kagome, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!) so I don't feel too guilty having her be dead. Only a little because InuYasha's sad…. But hey, he gets Sueko so it's okay! (I figured the shipping's are so obvious I don't exactly need to keep them secret). Anyways, here's more!

**DISCLAIMER**  
Since I'm single I think it's obvious that I don't own InuYasha… Rumiko Takahashi owns him at the moment… but if I ever do get my hands on InuYasha I'll try and get Sesshomaru just so you people can have him because I certainly don't want him. 

Sesshomaru: ((glares))

Oh, I'm _so_ scared... NOT!

Anyways, you know the drill: if Rumiko never wrote it, we own it! And you can't have! Ravyn and me own our characters and our plot, and you can't have our ideas without permission. Though if you want to go ahead and write an Original Character/InuYasha romance go right ahead…. Just let me know so I have something to read! I can't find _any_ good InuYasha fan fics… it's rather sad if you think about it… Word is saying I'm breaking so many grammar rules with this Disclaimer/Author's Notes thing but I really don't give! As long as the fan fic is good, right? I don't remember if I edited this, so if there are any mistakes then I'm sorry… I think I did though, I'm just not sure… Anyways, I'll leave you to it.

NOTE: Lately when I've been uploading the story to the underline thing I use to split two scenes in half is gone, and I really don't know why, and even if I fix it it still dissappears... I'm really sorry, I don't understand the automatic line on and it's apparently not using my document's one anymore... You'll just have to live with it until I figure it out or the problem goes away. At least there's a "-" thing to tell you that the scene is over... even if it is a small line.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Everyone's Strange Behavior**

The sun was starting to set when Yoshiko finally starting wondering where InuYasha was. She looked to Sango and Miroku to see if they were wondering as well, or any bit worried. But they showed no sign of even caring that InuYasha had been gone for hours. Just when she was about to get up to go look for him (though she had no idea where she would look since she couldn't go through the well) when the flap opened and in walked none other than InuYasha. On his head was a strange looking contraption on his head with a bill. Almost instantly InuYasha sat down huffily and crossed his arms. He had just opened his mouth to start complain (most likely) when Yoshiko crawled forward and started poking the contraption.

"What the hell are you doing?" cried InuYasha, pushing her away.

"What is that…" muttered Yoshiko, her eyes wide in wonder.

At those words InuYasha looked up at the red thing on his head and glared at it. With one hand he ripped it off and balled it up. Then before anybody could say anything he threw it away and went back to looking moody. Yoshiko blinked a couple of times then sat back up looking at InuYasha as if expecting him to say something. When he noticed he backed away a little like he was afraid of her.

"I apologized, all right!" he half shouted.

Yoshiko blinked a couple of times in confusion and looked up at the ceiling. Then when she figured out what InuYasha had said she clapped her hands together a gave a small "Oh!"

"Well… You never told me what... _that_ was," said Yoshiko, pointing at the red thing in the corner.

"It's a hat, okay?" snapped InuYasha, sitting up straight again. He crossed his arms and looked away from Yoshiko.

For some reason her eyes narrowed and she hit him over the head. This time it was Miroku's and Sango's turn to blink in confusion.

"Will you stop it?" cried Yoshiko, now crossing her arms.

"Stop what?" asked InuYasha.

"Looking like you got ran over or something. It's really annoying. You know that whenever you're in a really bad mood it passes on to all of us, too!" said Yoshiko, nodding her head as if agreeing to herself.

"What is up to you?" asked InuYasha, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, duh! It's the half moon!" cried Yoshiko, waving her hands around in the air. Then she stopped and put her hands in her lap, smiling. "I'm done now."

"Are you sure…" muttered InuYasha.

"So… what did you and Sueko talk about?" inquired Yoshiko, looking mischievous.

"Maybe it was better that you didn't stay with Sesshomaru," said InuYasha, backing away some more. "If I was him I would have killed you so I wouldn't have to deal with this anymore."

"Well, he can stand Jaken all right… so I think I would have lived… for at least one more day," said Yoshiko thoughtfully. "And there's Rin. She's a handful all on her own. I can hardly keep up with her."

"I really can't believe Sesshomaru keeping a mortal girl around," said Sango.

At Sango's voice Yoshiko jumped and turning to Sango. The way she sat now, she looked a lot like a cat. Then she blinked and sat back down normally. Hesitating for a minute, Sango reached out a hand and put it on Yoshiko's forehead.

"I don't like you that much Sango!" cried Yoshiko, jumping back.

Then, looking a little embarrassed, Yoshiko stood up.

"Um… I think… I… should… Um… leave…" she muttered, slipping out of the hut backwards. But because she couldn't see where she was going she tripped over a rock and landed on her butt. "Ow!"

Before anybody else could do anything, Miroku stood up and offered her his hand.

"Here, let me help you," he said, grinning.

Behind him Yoshiko saw Sango glowering but she couldn't figure out why. So she took the monk's hand and stood up. When she had made it to her feet she suddenly found that Miroku's hands weren't just helping her up. A vein in her temple twitched for a second and then the monk found himself on the ground with a fairly large bump on his head.

"You're not supposed to feel my butt! You're supposed to feel Sango's butt!" cried Yoshiko.

When Sango's eyebrow started twitching InuYasha went striding out of the hut to Yoshiko. He grabbed her by the elbow and started leading her far away from the hut. In the background they heard Shippo say, "Hey! Where did everybody go?" Finally, near the big tree, InuYasha stopped and sat back down. By this time the moon had come up and Yoshiko was now completely human. Thankfully she was far more calmer and not as loopy anymore.

"That was… really bad…" muttered Yoshiko.

"Does that happen often?" asked InuYasha, not looking at her.

"Normally I act a little weird before I turn human. Once I do I'm pretty much normal again," shrugged Yoshiko. She looked up into the branches of the large God Tree.

"That's the opposite of me," sighed InuYasha, lying back on the grass.

Yoshiko turned and smiled down at the half dog demon. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was about to fall asleep. She sat down next to him and drew her knees to her chest.

"So… did you find Sueko?" asked Yoshiko, hugging her legs.

"Duh. I said I apologized to her," snapped InuYasha, getting up on one elbow. "Of course she wanted to apologize to me for some reason…"

"No wonder you were so confused," laughed Yoshiko.

"I was not!" cried InuYasha, sitting up.

Yoshiko turned to him smiling and he turned away a little red in the cheeks. Yoshiko reached out a hand and patted him on the top of the head.

"It's okay. It'll all make sense sooner or later," she said.

InuYasha turned to her, glaring. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Yoshiko looked away again. Almost sadly. InuYasha sighed and lay back down.

"So, what's up with you and Sesshomaru?" growled InuYasha.

Blushing, Yoshiko looked down at her knees and cleared her throat. When she didn't say anything for an entire minute InuYasha waved a hand before her eyes. With a startled cry Yoshiko fell backwards. Then she sat up, glaring at him.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" asked InuYasha, crossing his arms.

"Nothing's going on!" snapped Yoshiko. "In fact he's been avoiding me ever since we ran into Koga in the woods."

"You ran into Koga…" muttered InuYasha. "Why would Sesshomaru start avoiding you because of _that_?"

"Well… it might have been because Koga said I was his women but… why would that get to Sesshomaru?" muttered Yoshiko, suddenly looking like she didn't realize InuYasha was there. "And he actually seemed really worried that I was hurt even though I was practically all healed. Plus he acted almost like he didn't want me to leave. But… why would he even care…"

"Huh?" said InuYasha, blinking.

"Argh!" cried Yoshiko, causing InuYasha to look really scared. "I just don't know anymore!" she said, turning away from InuYasha. "Everybody else's romantic problems make so much sense to me… but I'm always so confused when it comes to Sesshomaru."

"Take your own advice," growled InuYasha.

Yoshiko looked up as he stood up and walked over to the tree. For a minute he just looked at the trunk. He hesitated for a minute then rested a hand on the bark. Yoshiko shook her head sadly and walked over to him. This time she grabbed his elbow.

"I think it's safe enough to go back. Come on," she whispered, half dragging him back down to the village.

When they reached the hut, Shippo was sitting outside still playing the Gameboy thing that Sueko had given him. He looked up when Yoshiko and InuYasha approached. Yoshiko was still holding on to InuYasha's arm causing Shippo's eyes to go wide. He jumped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at InuYasha.

"Now you're double crossing Sueko!" he cried.

InuYasha and Yoshiko exchanged confused looks. Then almost simultaneously they stepped away from each other. Shippo, however, hadn't seen any of this. His eyes were shut tight in horror and his tiny hands in fists, shaking. In annoyance Yoshiko walked over and picked him up by the head.

"Hey!" cried Shippo, flailing his small arms about.

"Nothing is going on between me and InuYasha. If you say a word I will kill you," muttered Yoshiko.

When Shippo looked so scared he was going to pea his pants, she smiled and set him back down next to his Gameboy gently. Behind her InuYasha scratched his head in confusion. But he soon gave up trying to figure it out, shrugged and walked into the hut. Inside Miroku and Sango were on opposite sides of the room, Miroku with a bit red handprint on his cheek and doctoring his large bump on the head.

"Today has just not been your day, has it Miroku?" said Yoshiko, shrugging.

Miroku looked up smiling guiltily. Because she felt like it Yoshiko walked over and hit him on the head again.

"That was completely random," said Sango.

"I thought you said you were okay to see the others!" cried InuYasha. "I am not going to baby-sit you again!"

"Baby-sit!" shouted Yoshiko, turning to him. "You're the one who needs a baby-sitter!"

"Why would I need a baby-sitter? I'm not the one that needs to be saved because you got one small injury!" cried InuYasha.

"Well, you can't seem to take care of yourself or Sueko one at a time!" snapped Yoshiko.

"You're lucky that Sesshomaru even gives a damn because I wasn't about to take care of you!" shouted InuYasha.

For a minute Yoshiko just stared at the half dog demon. Then she started blinking to stop her tears from falling. She grabbed Miroku's staff and hit InuYasha over the head with it, crying out, "You bastard!" With that she stomped out of the hut and sat down next to Shippo. Yoshiko sighed and started banging her head on the wall of the hut, trying to get Sesshomaru out of her head.

'Damn. This is going to be a very, very, very long night…'

* * *

With some effort, Sueko finally managed to climb up and over the well. It was very difficult climbing up when your book bag was so full and heavy…

She was surprised that no one was around. For a minute Sueko just stood there wondering where everyone was and what she should do. Then her brain finally started working and she headed towards the village, thinking that they were hanging around waiting for her.

Entering the hut, she was surprised that Shippo did not jump up and attack her like usual, but then again he did look pretty absorbed in the game he was playing. She was also surprised that no one really did anything when she entered. Not even a simple, "Hello." They didn't even notice that she was no longer wearing her overly big grey sweatshirt, but a black one that actually fit her, which Tamika had gotten her as an apology for throwing away her old clothes.

"Um… what is with you people?" Sueko cried out, dropping her book bag with a sigh of relief and nearly collapsing next to InuYasha. "Did someone die when I was gone or what? And if someone died how come no one came and told me!"

"No one died," said InuYasha in annoyance. He then looked over at Sueko's book bag, which was nearly overflowing with stuff and raised his eyebrows at it. "Why's your book bag so big?"

"Hmm? Oh… well… I have presents," said Sueko.

"Presents?" cried Shippo, suddenly interested.

"Uh huh. I know you people don't even know what Christmas is but I got you all something anyways," said Sueko. "Did you all realize how hard you all are to shop for! Well, except for Shippo, he's easy…"

"Hey!" cried Shippo, acting as though he had been insulted.

"What's Christmas?" asked Yoshiko.

"A holiday in my day," said Sueko simply, rummaging through her book bag. She then pulled out a box with colored paper out of it and tossed it to Yoshiko. She did the same thing, tossing one each to everyone in the room. Everyone looked at the box in their hands, giving funny looks at it.

"You're supposed to rip the paper off of it, people!" said Sueko, sighing a little.

Full of energy, Shippo attacked his box, bits of paper flying everywhere. Then, tearing the lid off, he looked inside the box expectantly.

"It's a ball…" he said tonelessly.

"It's a _bouncy_ ball," corrected Sueko. "Probably not the smartest thing to get you, but whatever… I spent too much money on Keitaro's gift."

"A bouncy ball?" asked Shippo, pulling it out and setting the box down. He held the ball out and then dropped it, and his eyes widened as the ball… well, it bounced. Grinning, he repeated at least five times, before getting this really evil look on his face and throwing the ball at InuYasha's head.

"I knew this was a horrible gift to get you!" cried Sueko, who grabbed the ball and threw it at Shippo's head. She ignored Shippo's cry of pain and waited for someone else to open theirs.

Miroku was the next one to open his, though he looked a little worried as he tore the paper off. Pulling out what was inside and looking at it, he opened his mouth to say something but Sueko interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, but if anyone needs help with romance it's you!" cried Sueko.

Miroku's only response was to look down at his present again and glare at it, which was a book entitled _The Right Way to Treat a Woman (Keyword RIGHT)!_

Sango tried to hide her grin after seeing Miroku's present as she eagerly opened hers. Sueko was glad she liked the fancy comb that you use to decorate your hair, considering the fact that she had only spent a dollar on it.

When opening her present, Yoshiko looked inside the box with shock. Sueko, thinking that she had gotten the wrong thing, cried out, "Well, I really couldn't think of what to get you, and my dad gave me that even though I really didn't want it so I gave it to you because I thought you would like it, and—"

She stopped when Yoshiko set down the box and gave Sueko a hug, which made Sueko think that maybe she _did_ like the present.

"Wow, this is really pretty," said Sango, who pulled what turned out to be a dress similar to hers out of the box.

Just as Sango was putting it back into the box and handing it back to Yoshiko, Sueko turned around to look at InuYasha expectantly. At first he looked confused but then he looked down at the box in his hand and went, "Oh!" Then he eagerly ripped the paper off the box (though he managed to hide his excitement more then Shippo). When he tore the lid off and looked anxiously at what was inside, the enthusiasm washed off his face as he looked with bewilderment at what was inside.

"What is this?" he wanted to know.

Sueko laughed. "It's a portable CD player. It's from my time… You use it to listen to music…"

"What?" cried InuYasha, more befuddled.

"Don't tell me you don't even know what _music_ is!" cried Sueko, putting a hand to her forehead.

"No, I know that…" said InuYasha. He then pulled the thing out of the box to get a better look at it. It was your average portable CD player complete with the headphones, and it was red in color.

"You just put the headphones on and push play. It already has a CD in it," Sueko explained. Then when InuYasha just continued to look at it she added dully, "Those are the headphones," while pointing to them. But then she stopped and looked at them with the same expression as InuYasha was wearing.

Sighing, Sueko went into her book bag and rummaged around until she pulled out another CD player that was blue instead of red. She unplugged her headphones and switched hers around with InuYasha's.

"See, I got two CD players for Christmas: one from dad and one from Keitaro… I found that ironic because I got him a MP3 player… but Keitaro's CD player came with the headphones without a headband… you can't wear headband-headphones with your dog-ears…"

"Um… okay then…" said InuYasha, not understanding a word she was saying.

Sueko sighed again—though in an amused sort of way—and put the earpieces next to InuYasha's dog-ears. Then, after making sure the volume was as low as it could go without being off (for dogs did have sensitive hearing) she pushed play and handed the CD player back to InuYasha.

For about thirty seconds everyone was trying to get a good look at InuYasha just to see his reaction. At first his eyebrows kept going higher and higher up his forehead but then he started moving his head from side to side to go along with the music and pretty soon his foot was tapping too.

Just as Sueko was making a sigh of relief Shippo got up, went over to InuYasha and pulled the CD player away from him while crying, "I want to see that!"

"Hey!" cried InuYasha, making a grab at it. The two then had a tug-a-war with the CD player until Sueko, paranoid that they'd break it, threw Shippo's bouncy ball at Shippo's head, and watched as it hit him on the head and then bounced over to InuYasha's head, finally hitting the ground and rolling over to where Yoshiko was.

As InuYasha started hitting Shippo repeatedly with on the head with his fist Sueko thought, 'This is the last time I go Christmas shopping for people…'

"InuYasha, SIT!" cried Sueko.

"What was that for!" he wailed.

"Shippo doesn't need a concussion," said Yoshiko for Sueko, standing up suddenly. Then she said, "With Sueko back don't you think we should get a move on?"

Miroku and Sango stood up in agreement and everyone got up to exit the hut. Sueko paused before leaving, turning around and crossing her arms.

"Coming?" she asked InuYasha.

He growled as he waited another minute for the spell to wear off before getting to his feet and catching up with the others, Sueko slightly behind with a smile on her face, glad to be back in Feudal Japan.

They had been walking through the forest for about forty minutes, and it was during these forty minutes that Sueko noticed something: everyone was extremely depressed. Either that or something was really bugging them. No one was talking, Yoshiko looked depressed, and they all seemed to be angry with InuYasha (expect for Shippo because he was sitting on Sueko's shoulder playing Pokèmon, which was extremely annoying because she could see the game screen out of the corner of her eye and it was making her want to play it too).

But everyone's quietness was starting to bug Sueko and she was just about to ask someone what was going on when a familiar noise filled her ears.

"Oh, great! Just great!" cried Sueko.

"What?" asked Sango.

"Koga!" cried both Sueko and Yoshiko at the same time.

InuYasha sighed and took off his headphones. "What are you all yelling about now?"

"KOGA!" Sueko and Yoshiko shouted.

"Feh," said InuYasha tiredly.

Sueko squinted through the trees, trying to find that wind tunnel that Koga liked to use to travel but she couldn't see it. It was when she heard InuYasha growl in annoyance that Sueko turned around and realized that she had been looking in the wrong direction.

"What do you want now?" complained Yoshiko, crossing her arms.

"I'm actually not here for you," said Koga casually, "although—"

"I don't want to even think about it," said Yoshiko, putting a hand up.

"Suit yourself," said Koga, shrugging. Then he walked over to Sueko, which puzzled everyone besides Shippo because he was still preoccupied by the game.

Koga just stood there looking at Sueko critically which was totally weirding her out.

"What the hell are you doing?" InuYasha cried.

"I knew your name sounded familiar," said Koga to Sueko. "And now I know where I heard it from."

"Uh…" said Sueko.

"You're the 'Last One'! The protector of the Spirit Shrine! The girl who came out of the Bone Eater's well!" cried Koga.

"Oh… _that_…" said Sueko sheepishly.

"Feh," said InuYasha, crossing his arms. "Took you long enough."

"For your information, dog-boy, at the time I didn't really care. But now I'm suddenly interested," said Koga.

"Is that so?" mocked InuYasha.

"Wait a second," said Sueko. "Why do you all of a sudden care? Are you after the shrine stones too?"

"Nah," said Koga. "It's just more interesting when it's you six being involved in it."

"Is that supposed to make sense?" asked Sueko. "Because it really, really doesn't."

Koga laughed. "You know, you really don't look like the protector of the Spirit Shrine. What are you, twelve?"

A muscle in Sueko's forehead twitched and her eyes narrowed. Shippo, sensing Sueko's anger, jumped off her and went on Sango, thinking her to be safer.

"I am _not_ twelve years old. I'm _sixteen_, for your information," said Sueko in an extremely low voice. Then she practically bellowed out, "It's not my damn fault I'm so freakin' short!"

"Okay! Well, aren't you pushy?" teased Koga.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked InuYasha, making his face closer to Koga's and glaring.

"You both really have anger management issues," said Koga, grinning.

"AND WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" bellowed InuYasha and Sueko.

"Would you three grow up already?" cried Sango.

"Humph!" cried InuYasha and Sueko, both looking away from everyone and crossing their arms.

This made Koga laugh a bit, which in turn made Yoshiko say in a tired tone, "Koga, are you done already?"

"I told you, I came here to find out more about the whole shrine thing," said Koga.

"You never said that!" cried Yoshiko.

"I just did!"

"Oh… my… God…" said Yoshiko, putting a hand to her forehead and shaking her head ever so slightly.

"So you _do_ want the stones!" cried Sueko accusingly.

"_No_, I'm just curious."

"I think I'm going to need some aspirin pretty soon," muttered Sueko.

"And what makes _you_ think we're going to tell you about the shrines?" asked Yoshiko, a muscle in her face twitching as she attempted to not wring Koga's neck.

"Oh, come on! I already told you I'm not after them!" cried Koga.

"Liar!" hissed Yoshiko. It seemed as though she could no longer contain her anger as she walked over and whacked Koga on the head, holding up her fist afterwards as a warning that she'd do it again if she felt like it. "You've had a wind stone all along!"

"Wh—what?" stammered Koga, blinking.

"No he doesn't," said Sueko. "My sword isn't glowing."

"Then how in the hell can he move so fast?" hissed Yoshiko. "It's not like he has those Shikon Jewel Shards anymore!"

"Honestly! I don't have one of those wind stone thingy's!" cried Koga. "I've never even _seen_ one!"

"Okay, now _that's_ a lie," said Sueko.

"Huh?" InuYasha, Koga and Yoshiko all wondered.

"I'm wearing one!" said Sueko, pulling the wind stone that she wore as a necklace out of her black sweatshirt.

"_That's_ the stone?" said Koga. "It's so… puny looking."

"Well, so did the Shikon Jewel, but all the demons seemed to be after that anyways," said—of all people—Shippo.

"Wait… is _that_ supposed to be a Wind Stone?" Koga asked.

"Duh," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "Actually, it's the pansy stone…"

It was then that Koga gave an extremely guilty grin and scratched the back of his head while trying not to look at Yoshiko. "Erm… I guess I _do_ have a Wind Stone…"

"I KNEW IT!" cried Yoshiko, whacking Koga on the head again.

"Stop that!" moaned Koga, putting his hands on his head.

"You mean you didn't _know_ you had one?" said Sango.

"Well…" said Koga, leaning down and pulling something off one of his fur leg-bands. He held it up so Sueko could see a small yellow rock that was perfectly round like hers on a small chain. "I got this a long, long time ago… I think I was five… Whatever, I just always kept it around for good luck," said Koga, shrugging.

"Where'd you get it from?" asked Sueko curiously.

"My dad," said Koga. "Or maybe it was my uncle… or was it my other uncle…"

"Well, if you don't mind," hissed Yoshiko, "I'll be taking _that_ back to its true owner!"

Yoshiko made a grab for the rock in Koga's hand but was stopped by Miroku, who had rushed over to stand in between them while grabbing Yoshiko's arm and crying out, "Wait!"

"WHAT?" Yoshiko hissed in a dangerously low voice.

Miroku didn't look the slightest bit scared by Yoshiko's tone as he said calmly, "Did you say that once the stone has come in contact with Sueko that the sword won't glow blue any more, thus no longer 'call out' to the stone?"

"Yes. So?" said Yoshiko crankily.

"Maybe it also only glows when the stone wants to be found. Koga's stone doesn't want to be found so therefore the sword won't glow," explained Miroku.

"So you're saying the stone wants to stay with Koga?" asked Sueko.

"It's probably safe with Koga," said Miroku, nodding to what Sueko said, "because Koga won't use the stones power for evil purposes, only when he needs it."

"This is all making sense now…" said Sueko. "Is something wrong with me?"

InuYasha put a hand on her forehead. "Nope," he said.

"Oh, I don't give!" cried Yoshiko, trying to get her arm out of Miroku's grip. "The stone's just an idiot for wanting to stay with Koga!"

"You heard the monk!" said Koga. "I get to keep the stone." When Yoshiko just glared and hissed at the wolf demon Koga whined, "Oh, don't be mad at me! You know I don't like it when you're mad at me!"

"What are you, some messed up married couple?" cried Sueko.

"Well… she _is_ my woman…" said Koga slyly.

"Oh!" cried Yoshiko, finally removing her arm from Miroku's grip and using it to whack Koga on the head. "I'm _not_ your woman, dammit!"

"First Kagome, now _her_?" cried InuYasha. "They're nothing alike!"

"But Kikyo and Kagome had nothing besides looks in common yet you kept going from one to the other," said Shippo. Sueko didn't even say sit as InuYasha went over to kick Shippo on the head.

"Well," said Sueko to Koga after a minute or two passed, "we actually don't really know that much about the stones… just that the demons want them to get more power and they want me for some reason or another…"

"That's _it_?" cried Koga. "Then why are you chasing all over Japan to get the darn things?"

"So the demons don't get them first, you retard!" said InuYasha.

"Can you leave now?" muttered Yoshiko moodily. "We don't have anything you particularly want…"

"Actually…" said Koga, "I've been wanting to ask you something—"

"No."

"But I just—"

"No."

"Let the guy talk!" said Sueko. "Sheesh, Yoshiko, take a chill pill!"

But Sueko regretted letting Koga talk as he asked Yoshiko, "So, is there anything between you and Sesshomaru or was I just seeing things when I ran into you in the woods?"

"Why… you… you bastard!" cried Yoshiko, reaching over to put both hands on Koga's neck. But he dodged the attack and started running away… Yoshiko chased him and everyone's head was turning as they watched the two run around in a circle.

"InuYasha? Can you take that necklace of yours off? I'd really like to use that 's' word on Koga right about now!" said Sueko.

"I think Yoshiko needs it more than Koga," said InuYasha.

It was then that Yoshiko had decided to pull out her sword and she started to swing it at Koga. Finding it difficult to both dodge the swings of the blade and run away from Yoshiko at the same time, he gave a quick wave of good-bye before turning into a wind funnel and rushing away back into the forest.

Yoshiko sheathed her sword, turned around and walked straight in the direction that the group had been walking before the interruption. Shrugging, everyone else followed, Shippo running a few paces back to go back on Sueko's shoulder, thinking it safe to sit there again. Though Sueko just found this annoying because now she wanted to play Pokèmon again.


	17. Sango and the Tiger Demon's Plot

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Go Sango and Miroku! One day Ravyn and me were all like, "Dude, we haven't had any Miroku-Sango stuff happen _at all_! Maybe we could write a chapter all about it and have something totally dramatic happen!" (Okay, that _so_ did not happen… but you get the picture). And Yoshiko's aunt shows up again, so if you care then there you go… Whatever… 

I was looking back at the other posts and noticed that one chapter was all in **bold** and I'm sorry about that… I'd fix it but I'm too lazy. I also noticed when I explained about Ravyn's Anime Music Video she made the website didn't show up. So here's the website: animemusicvideos (and the ". org" part. I took it out because I think that's why the bold and the website was all screwy in the first place).

I'm in a Koga mood. Koga hasn't been on InuYasha lately (I watch it on adult swim). He's never on the show, it sucks! And the "Jaken Falls Ill" episode was boring… and Sesshomaru was weird in it… almost out of character… Whatever. I'm bored… I'm writing Chapter Nineteen but I'm sort of bored with it… not that it's boring I just can't think of anything! _Pauses_ Japanese music is really weird… I downloaded all these InuYasha theme songs and a few Love Hina ones (it's another anime if you're confused by the times I've said I stole Keitaro's name from it… it's about this loser of a guy named Keitaro ((wow, so amazing! My Keitaro isn't a loser though, just a nerd… Not trying to insult nerds though, I'm a nerd!)) who gets kicked out of the house because he failed the exams to Tokyo University AGAIN ((you have to take a difficult exam to get to college in Japan)) so he goes to live at his Grandma's hotel… but it's not a hotel anymore, it's a ALL GIRL'S DORMITORY! _Dum-dum-DUM!_ It's actually kind of funny… the anime, I mean. I only read the manga though, the show isn't on the channels I have). Anyways, I downloaded a bunch of InuYasha and Love Hina theme songs and they're all in Japanese and they're weird… cool, but weird… and I don't know what they're saying! You realize how hard it is to find _translated_ lyrics for these songs! Anyways, I should hurry up—I haven't even written the disclaimer!

**DISCLAIMER**  
That looks so dramatic… My hair's really short. It went below my chest and I couldn't brush it so I was all, "Mom, I need a hair cut. Like, NOW!" so I got a hair cut. Now my hair goes to my chin… I like it, it's just….. SHORT! Ravyn says I'll get over it in a few days (Not that she's a hair expert or anything, but whatever). Anyways, to the disclaiming! (what a weird title for a thing like this). Uh……………. I don't own InuYasha. Or Koga. Or wolf demons…. I'M IN A KOGA MOOD, DAMMIT! Thank God the Koga-Ayame episode is repeating today. Ayame's awesome! I should have her show up in the fan fic again… Oh, I don't own her either. Let's see… what do I own? Um… oh yeah, we don't own anything from the show or manga's or action figures or trading card games (they have an InuYasha trading card game. Can you believe it!) or the calendars (miniature new moon InuYasha is so cute!) or… or… _thinks_ oh yeah! There's the InuYasha plushes, the InuYasha cars (okay, one car that some dude custom painted. Wahoo…), or… I can't think of any other InuYasha merchandise… hmm… wait, it'll come to me! Um… oh! T-shirts! They have those too! Wait, what was I talking about before! Whatever, anything not from show/book we own, okay? I haven't even had caffeine today, so what is wrong with me! 

Apparently in the third InuYasha movie we learn more about InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's daddy. Anyone know where I can find that movie! I want to watch it, dammit! Whatever, have fun with the Miroku-Sango romance, even though nothing much happens romance wise (I don't think…) but whatever. Oh, and replying afterwards would be extremely nice…

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Sango and the Tiger Demon's Plot**

As he lay out in a thing that Kagome had once called a "sleeping bag" Miroku felt small wet things fall onto his face. His eyes opened slowly and notice that it had begun to snow. In fact it probably had been snowing for quite some time because everybody was quite covered with the white stuff. Sitting up, he started brushing it off of his robes and turned to the sleeping figures of his companions. His first thought was to brush the snow off of Sango. But after he had felt Yoshiko she would probably think he was making a move on her. Miroku sighed and dropped his head into his hand.

"Achoo!"

Immediately Sango and Sueko sat up and looked around as if expecting a demon attack. Miroku looked around as well and turn to Yoshiko who was now coughing. He got to his feet, picking up his staff as he did so. Once the girls figured out where the sound had come from they scrambled over to Yoshiko and started asking if she was okay. InuYasha, who had still seemed asleep, opened one eye and shook his head. When Sueko continued to fawn over Yoshiko InuYasha sighed and stood up.

"I guess we'll have to go to the nearest village," muttered InuYasha.

"Village!" cried Yoshiko, her eyes going wide.

"Where else do you expect to get medicine and herbal tea to help your cold?" asked Miroku, smiling down at her. He soon turned away when Sango narrowed her eyes at him.

"But…" started Yoshiko. Then she stopped and sighed, getting to her feet.

When she finally stood up all the way she started coughing again. Sango ordered Kirara then to transform and carry the half tiger demon. So it was that the group traveled through the ever thickening snow toward a near by village. Sango and Sueko continued to ask Yoshiko over and over if she was okay. Miroku and InuYasha did there best to stay out of it. But Miroku had a feeling that if it had been Sueko with the cold InuYasha would be a bit worried as well.

'Sango would never get a cold. She's too strong for that,' thought Miroku proudly.

"What are you grinning about, monk?" growled InuYasha, his arms crossed.

"Grinning?" said Miroku, looking puzzled. "Oh, nothing."

"Maybe I don't want to know," muttered InuYasha, looking away.

After an hour or so they finally reached a village. Miroku and Sueko took it upon themselves to look for a place to stay. They thought it would be best not to have InuYasha and Yoshiko walking into the village as they certainly weren't human.

"Maybe she shouldn't have worn her new dress during winter," sighed Sueko as they approached the inn.

"Well, she's had nothing else to wear but her kimono for who knows how many years," shrugged Miroku.

"Yeah… Who knows how many years…" muttered Sueko.

Once they had procured a room and ordered some tea, Sueko went back to collect the others. As Miroku sat in their room pouring out a large glass of tea for Yoshiko, a young woman passed by the doorway. She was beautiful, with waist length black hair and unusually green eyes. At first he thought her a princess of some sort. But another look at her bare feet, callused hands and peasant garb chased that thought out of his mind. Despite that when she smiled at him he felt himself falling in love.

'Now, now, Miroku. You travel with three very fine young ladies. All of which will kill you if you touch this women. What would Sango think anyways?' thought Miroku, closing his eyes and sweating with guilt.

"What are you thinking?" came a familiar voice, causing Miroku to sweat even more.

"Oh, nothing at all," said Miroku, looking at Sango and grinning.

"Uh huh…" muttered Sango in disbelief.

"Ah… ah…. AHCHOO!"

Everybody turned at once toward Yoshiko who was blushing in embarrassment. At that moment the innkeeper, an elderly looking women, walked in and put a large wool blanked around Yoshiko's shoulders. In surprise Yoshiko looked up at the women.

"Th—thank you!" she said.

"Don't worry. We get many young folk with colds around these days," said the old women. "I'll make you some of my special cold tea."

As the old women walked away Yoshiko stared after her with wide eyes.

"Wow… there are some pretty nice people in these villages," she muttered.

"Normally the older men and women are nicer than the others," said Miroku, handing Yoshiko her tea.

When he was sure that everybody was preoccupied with something he stood up and started out of the room. However Sango wasn't as preoccupied has he thought.

"Where are you going?" she snapped.

For a minute Miroku stood halfway out of the door thinking. Then he turned around, grinning.

"I thought I would ask around for news about the stones," he lied.

"Then I'll go with you!" said Sango, getting to her feet.

"No, no, that's okay," said Miroku, hurriedly, waving his hands about.

Sango's eyes narrowed as Miroku smiled at her. Then she sat down, crossing her arms and looking away from him in a huff. He sighed and walked out of the room sadly. As he walked down the hall he found himself running into somebody. Miroku looked up and found himself looking into InuYasha's face.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

"InuYasha! I didn't see you there!" laughed Miroku guiltily.

"You're going off to womanize, aren't you?" growled InuYasha.

"What makes you think that?" laughed Miroku, patting InuYasha on the back.

"Sueko didn't get you that book for nothing," said InuYasha, his eyes narrowing.

"Well… I should probably get going," said Miroku, making his way past InuYasha carefully.

When he made his way around InuYasha he started running. Finally he found his way outside where he was able to breathe freely. Luckily InuYasha hadn't followed him so he was able to look around for some young women. Almost instantly he saw the black haired women that had passed by their room earlier. Before he could walk over to her she looked up, grinning.

"Hello monk," she said, bowing in respect.

"May I ask what your name is, lady?" asked Miroku, walking down the stairs toward her.

"It's Emiko," said the lady, still smiling brightly.

"Well, Emiko," said Miroku, taking her hands in his. "Would you be so obliged to bear my children?"

Emiko's eyes went wide, looking up into Miroku's serious face. She then looked down at their hands and Miroku almost though she was crying.

"Did I say something?" asked Miroku, now worried.

As in answer Emiko looked up, her eyes narrowed and void of tears. In fear Miroku took a step back, his hands still clasping hers.

"What about your girlfriend?" snapped Emiko.

"G-girlfriend? I—I don't have a girlfriend," stuttered Miroku.

"You are dense!" said Emiko, turning around and her hair whipping in Miroku's face.

The monk was left completely dumbstruck, mouth open in shock and his hands still held out in front of him.

"What girlfriend?" cried Miroku.

Finally he sighed and hung his head. As he closed his eyes a picture of Sango laughing at him flashed. This caused him to moan.

"Even when she's not here she haunts me!" cried Miroku, shaking his head and walking off. "Might as well live up to my lie…"

* * *

'This is only to be expected,' she thought to herself. 'The same thing happens every time, and most people would just be used to it by now.'

Despite this, Sango found herself angry with Miroku when he again went off by himself, knowing that he was doing a little more then just finding out information about the shrine stones.

"Sango, if you don't hurry up and eat your food will get cold," said Sueko timidly, sitting across from her.

"I'm not hungry," said Sango, pushing her plate of food away from her and crossing her arms while looking away.

"You might not be hungry but if you'll have a better chance of getting what Yoshiko has if you don't eat," said Sueko persistently.

"Hmm…" said Sango, looking down at her food in a threatening way.

Shippo, who had already eaten his dinner in about thirty seconds (beating InuYasha by two whole seconds), went over to Sango and cried out, "Can I have your food, then?"

"Shippo!" cried Sueko, reaching over to hit Shippo on the head, but she leaned over too far and fell over. "InuYasha, can you hit him for me?" she muttered while on the floor.

"Yoshiko, help me!" whimpered Shippo as he cowered under InuYasha's fist.

Yoshiko's feeble response was a small sneeze. Just as InuYasha's fist made contact with Shippo's head, Sango got up and left the room.

"Wait, don't go!" cried Sueko.

"I just want some time alone," said Sango quietly before closing the screen door.

The cold night air bit at Sango's face and she hugged herself close, wishing it for it to be summer, not winter. Even if the snow was pretty…

"Stupid monk!" Sango muttered to herself, walking down the hallway as her eyes narrowed in their fury. "Stupid beautiful woman that he always has to go chasing over!"

She continued walking and not really seeing her surroundings or feeling the coldness as she was so caught up with her anger and thoughts. Why was it that she liked the one guy that never paid attention to her?

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Huh?" said Sango, finally seeing out of her eyes and feeling the cold again as she got back to reality and she noticed a young woman standing before her.

"It's awfully cold out here," said the young woman. "You might want to get back inside before you catch a cold."

"So I've heard," said Sango tiredly but she went along with the woman's advice and headed back to their room, thinking that if she didn't Sueko would probably hunt her down and drag her back anyways.

The next day Yoshiko's cold wasn't doing any worse. In fact she had a horrible temperature. InuYasha sat around half the day in a huff, saying they were wasting time. But of course nobody was listening to him because the girls were busy keeping Yoshiko comfortable. So Miroku was left all alone. He tried to find some nice young ladies… but the inn was run by a set of old people who had their friends over often. The monk didn't want to leave the inn just in case Sango jumped to conclusions when he wasn't around.

When finally he couldn't think of much else to do he decided to ask people about Emiko. Apparently nobody had heard of her name or knew anybody by her description. Not even the owners of the inn seemed to know anything about her. It was almost like Miroku had imagined her. Which was quite impossible because… well nobody else had seen her but he had held her hands. Then again she had just disappeared…

'What am I thinking?' Miroku scolded himself. 'She was perfectly real.'

Almost as if summoned by his thoughts, he turned to find himself looking into Emiko's strange green eyes. In surprise the monk took a step back. Before he could say anything, the young women came forward and hugged him. At first he was just shocked. Then he took advantage of the situation and hugged her back. He was just about to touch her behind when she spoke up.

"Monk, I've been thinking," said Emiko, pulling away enough to look at his face. He grinned guiltily.

"What have you been thinking about, my dear?"

"About what you asked me," Emiko said, as if it was obvious.

"Oh!" said Miroku, his eyes going wide. "Really?"

"Yes," said Emiko, nodding her head in a very cute way. "And I believe we shouldn't just rush in like that. Let's take it one step at a time."

For a minute Miroku just stood there, looking down at the women in his arms, blinking. He had not idea what she meant but not rushing in. Besides they couldn't take their time because he would be leaving soon. Hopefully. Well, if Yoshiko's cold went away. Which at the rate she was taking to get better would probably be a while. Just when he was about to say something, Emiko put a hand on his face.

"I knew you would agree," she whispered.

With that she raised herself up and placed her lips right onto Miroku's. His eyes went wide in surprise. But soon he felt himself losing all reason and kissing her back. It wasn't until they both heard breaking china that they pulled apart. Miroku, feeling a bit hazy around the edges, looked over to see Sueko standing in surprise. At her feet was a broken teacup. Like a whisper Emiko disentangled herself from Miroku and left. The monk was left under Sueko's angry glare feeling like his brain was numb.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, jerk?" cried Sueko, holding up her fist.

"That probably wasn't the best thing for a child to walk in on," said Miroku, crossing his arms and thinking about it.

"Wh—what…" said Sueko, her eyes wide.

Miroku's mind had been wandering all over the place. Suddenly he was brought back to earth when Sueko hit him over the head. For some reason it didn't hurt Miroku as much as he knew it should have.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked calmly.

"I'm sixteen, bastard!" snapped Sueko.

"Oh, excuse me. Then not a child but a young lady," said Miroku, nodding his apologies.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" cried Sueko, hitting him on the head again.

"I don't know what you're talking about. And is that really necessary?" asked Miroku, grabbing Sueko's wrist as she attempted to hit him on the head again.

"Yes it is! I just caught you kissing a girl that wasn't Sango!" snapped Sueko.

As Miroku continued to stand there in utter confusion InuYasha came walking around the corner, arms crossed.

"What are you yelling about?" mumbled InuYasha, as if extremely tired.

"Miroku is cheating on Sango!" snapped Sueko, pulling away from the monk.

"I didn't realize they were dating," said InuYasha, his eyes narrowing. "Besides it's not your business what he does and personally I don't want to know what he does."

"But… but… Oh fine!" cried Sueko, walking off.

"Where are you going?" asked InuYasha, raising an eyebrow.

"To go get another cub of tea," said Sueko huffily.

"How do you manage to get girls so pissed off at you?" muttered InuYasha.

"I didn't realize she was mad at me!" said Miroku, eyes wide.

"Hey, are you okay? Maybe you're getting sick too. We should probably head back," said InuYasha, walking off.

Miroku stood there for a while. But when he finally realized InuYasha was walking away he followed.

'I wonder where Emiko is doing…' he thought as they walked into their room. Without saying a word, he lay down and went to sleep.

* * *

Three days later, Yoshiko's cold had yet to go away and there was so much snow on the ground that traveling would have been pointless anyways. Sueko was still mad at Miroku and had chosen to just pretend he didn't exist. Which actually really annoyed InuYasha because she was really cranky to everyone and he was bored out of his mind and had nothing to do. He had actually been bored enough to take away Shippo's GameBoy thingy when he wasn't playing with it but he found Sueko's game really boring. Something to do with these cute little animals called Pokèmon fighting each other all the time… what a drag! There was nothing else to do except to either sit there and stare at the walls or sit there and talk to someone but what in the hell was there to talk about!

Besides, Sueko wasn't the only cranky person in the room. Sango looked as though she was trying her best not to strangle Miroku (which was odd because she didn't know about the kiss thing. Well, she might… InuYasha didn't think so. Maybe she just knew something was up…), and she also seemed to be loathing the opposite sex, which wasn't exactly pleasant for InuYasha. Shippo was Shippo; he was never entertaining, just annoying. Yoshiko and InuYasha talked for a little bit but she mostly just tried to sleep off her cold… and he couldn't play around with Kirara because she'd probably bite his hand off, or maybe his whole arm.

For InuYasha, these last three days had been extremely dull.

If there was one thing he noticed in his boredom, it was Miroku. Pretty much everyone except Shippo and Yoshiko had been watching him like a hawk lately, but InuYasha felt that he was the only one noticing something different about the monk. At first he really couldn't put his finger on why the monk was acting different but just knew he was. Then the fact that Miroku was usually just sitting there staring at nothing at particular became more evident, and the fact that he never really spoke except to say something along the lines of, "Yeah, whatever," really weirded InuYasha out. It was like something Sueko would do which was even weirder. But the weirdest thing at all would have to be the fact that he was staying inside their room, not going out to "find information about the shrine stones" (in other words, he wasn't going lady-hunting!).

As interesting as this information was, InuYasha was still bored!

* * *

"You really should be in bed, you know," Sueko said for the tenth time since she and Yoshiko had gotten outside.

"I think a little walk would be good for the cold," said Yoshiko patiently. "Besides, that room is so tense…"

Sueko swallowed guiltily at that last bit. She knew exactly what made that room so tense but telling Yoshiko wouldn't be the wisest thing to do…

"You know, don't you?" said Yoshiko. "Spill! Is it something between Sango and Miroku?"

"Well…" said Sueko slowly, crossing her arms and then uncrossing them in her nervousness. "You see…. Um… well…"

"I don't have all day, you know," teased Yoshiko.

"I caught Miroku kissing a girl, okay!" cried Sueko.

"Oh…" said Yoshiko.

"That's it? That's all you're gonna say?" cried Sueko.

"What else am I supposed to say?" asked Yoshiko.

"I don't know, I just expected a little more then just, 'Oh.'"

They didn't talk much after that, just walked around as Sueko felt more and more guilty for telling—after all, it sort of wasn't her business and it really wasn't Yoshiko's business either. But then Yoshiko stopped walking and turned around, going back to where their room was.

"What are you doing? Do you want to go back inside?" asked Sueko, rushing back over to Yoshiko.

"Not quite…" said Yoshiko. She wasn't looking at Sueko but looking ahead this look full of determination. A look Sueko really, really didn't like.

"What are you up to?" Sueko asked tonelessly.

"Well, someone has to get Miroku and Sango back together, right?" said Yoshiko innocently.

"No!" cried Sueko, stopping in her tracks and waving her arms. "No, no, no! This is their own thing! They can fix it by their selves! We don't need to get into their mess!"

"Oh, come on!" said Yoshiko. "Those two need all the help they can get!"

"What do you mean they need all the help they can get?" said a voice in front of the two girls.

"I—InuYasha! What are you doing here?" cried Sueko, startled.

"You've been gone for an hour," said InuYasha, crossing his arms casually.

"You've been counting the minutes?" asked Yoshiko with raised eyebrows.

"I'm _bored_, okay?" cried InuYasha. "What are you two doing out here for that long, anyways? The cold isn't good for your illness and Sueko could get sick too!"

"You don't need to worry about _my_ welfare," muttered Sueko with pink cheeks.

"I needed a breath of fresh air. And hanging around with Sango had to be bad karma. Then again, if the guy I liked kissed some girl I'd be mad too…" said Yoshiko thoughtfully.

InuYasha's eyes went wide. "You _told_?" he cried to Sueko.

"She forced it out of me!" cried Sueko in defense. "She has a way with making you do whatever the hell she wants you to do!"

"No, that's just you," said Yoshiko.

"Hey!"

"You're not supposed to be telling everyone about it!" cried InuYasha.

"How do you know, anyways?" asked Yoshiko.

"I walked into Sueko yelling at Miroku," shrugged InuYasha.

"So Sango doesn't know?" asked Yoshiko.

"No."

"And it's going to stay that way!" cried Sueko.

"I may be sick but my brain works just fine," said Yoshiko.

"If your brain works fine then why are you making them get together!" cried Sueko.

"Are you two trying to fix it?" cried InuYasha. "Man, I should be able to make _you_ sit!"

"Why would I need to sit down?" asked Sueko, blinking. As InuYasha crashed to the ground she cried out, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, honestly!"

"Yeah…" muttered InuYasha, glaring up at her.

"Well, you two have fun," said Yoshiko, turning around to walk away. "I have business to attend to."

"Oh, no you don't!" cried Sueko, using both hands to grab a hold of Yoshiko's arm.

"I'm not going to do anything major!" said Yoshiko, pulling Sueko off her arm. "I'm just… going to help them along a bit…"

"No!" yelled both Sueko and InuYasha (he was now able to stand again).

"You can't stop me, you know!" cried Yoshiko. "You can try but you know I'll be able to do what I want somehow!"

"Who says?" snapped InuYasha.

"Oh, please," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"Why do you even bother?" asked Sueko. "I mean, this is a totally personal issue. Only they can fix it. There's nothing you can really do to make them get together."

"Watch me!" said Yoshiko, turning around and heading back towards the room.

Sueko and InuYasha sighed in defeat, following Yoshiko wearily.

* * *

'Maybe you should slow down and think about this. You have had a cold for the last four days. Or is it five? See you can't even remember how many days have gone by!' thought Yoshiko, as she went stomping down the hall. 'What am I thinking? Sango and Miroku need me!'

As she finally made up her mind she slid open the door to their room to see a young women setting down a tray of tea. The women looked up, startled, her green eyes matching with Yoshiko's identical ones. There was something familiar about them. It wasn't just the color either. InuYasha and Sueko finally caught up with her and stared over her shoulder at the women. Suddenly Miroku's eyes seemed to actually see what was going on around him.

"Emiko! What are you doing here?" he asked, getting to his feet and walking over to the kneeling young women.

"What do you think you're doing?" cried Yoshiko, as Miroku held out a hand to help the women up.

"Monk…" muttered Emiko, taking his hand and falling into place right in his arms. "They wished to harm me…"

Just to make things incredibly worse, Sango wandered depressingly in through the other door. Her eyes wandered up the pair of feet up to see Miroku comforting the beautiful young lady. At first her face was only covered by shock. Then it was soon replaced by anger, which was followed quickly by a look of pain.

"Crap…" whispered Yoshiko.

"I guess… I guess you finally found someone, monk," said Sango, her voice wavering as tears seemed to fill her eyes. "I'm happy for you."

Either in respect or to hide her tears, Sango bowed then turned and ran out of the room. Miroku looked up and his arms dropped to his side as the last of Sango's hair disappeared out of view. Almost as quickly Emiko slipped out of sight as Sueko strode across the room and hit Miroku over the head. He was unchanged. Staring after Sango as if not really seeing anything. After a minute of waiting for him to do something, Yoshiko finally sighed and strode after the demon exterminator.

She found Sango sitting in a corner, crying into her knees. Almost in annoyance, Yoshiko sat down next to her and didn't look at her. When Sango continued to cry without speaking to her she finally looked at the women and put an arm over her shoulder. Yoshiko smiled reassuringly at her as Sango looked up in surprise.

"You should talk to him," said Yoshiko quietly.

"Ha," laughed Sango, through her tears. "And what exactly would I say?"

"Well would you much rather he went out with another girl without knowing how you feel about him?" asked Yoshiko. "Maybe he only chose her because he wasn't sure you liked him."

Sango sighed and put her head back on her knees. At least she had stopped crying.

"Besides, if I felt I had one last chance to tell Sesshomaru how I felt for any reason, even if it meant he hated me, I would just so I knew that I had," said Yoshiko. "For my own sake of mind because NEVER being able to say it would drive me crazy."

There was a moment of silence as Yoshiko waited for her words to sink in. In fact she had to think about what she was saying.

'I really should take my own advice… just like InuYasha said,' thought Yoshiko, as she stood up finally.

As she stood there, looking down at Sango, the demon exterminator looked up smiling. She got to her feet and turned to Yoshiko. Just when the half-demon was ready to leave Sango alone, the women turned and hugged her. Yoshiko's eyes went wide in surprise. Why was Sango hugging her?

Before she had gotten use to the idea of being hugged, Sango pulled away and started walking back to their room. Yoshiko hesitated before following after the brunette women. When they reached the room they found it completely void of Miroku or Emiko. Of course Sueko and InuYasha was there, Sueko standing there with her hands on her hips. When Yoshiko entered the room Sueko's eyes narrowed but she didn't dare to say a word in front of Sango.

"I thought the monk went after you," said InuYasha.

Suddenly Sango rounded upon Yoshiko with almost the same expression as Sueko.

"Well?" she snapped.

"I swear! He didn't follow me!" said Yoshiko, eyes wide, and holding her hands up.

Suddenly she went into a coughing fit. Sueko and Sango's angry expressions melted away as Yoshiko slid to a sitting position. As if drawn by this the old women that owned the inn came bustling in with some special tea. She handed it to Yoshiko who managed to stop coughing long enough to smile at the women. After another minute of coughing she forced herself to drink half of the tea.

"I told you walking outside wasn't the smartest idea," muttered InuYasha, not looking at her.

"Bite me," said Yoshiko hoarsely.

"I could if you really want me to," said InuYasha.

"Not while I'm in the room!" cried Sueko.

"I wasn't serious!" said InuYasha and Yoshiko simultaneously.

During this exchange Sango and managed to slip out of the room. But since she had left the door open Yoshiko was able to watch her walk down the hall. Just when she opened up the door to leave the inn she stopped. Snow was blown into the inn, making Yoshiko start to shiver. In an attempt to warm up she took another drink of her tea. As she watched Sango she heard somebody come walking down the hall behind her. But her mind was starting to go numb that she didn't really notice.

Suddenly Miroku's fist came through the doorway, hitting Sango in the stomach. She cried out and doubled over in pain. InuYasha jumped to his feet and grabbed his sword. Before he could leave the room Yoshiko found herself being dragged to her feet and held there forcefully. A cold but familiar laugh filled her ears.

"Did you really think I would let you walk off with my stone?" whispered Rheda.

"You witch!" cried InuYasha. "What do you think you're doing?"

Out of the corner of her eyes Yoshiko saw as Miroku sent Sango flying down the hallway. He came walked toward her as Sango struggled to get back up. When she got to her hands and feet he brought his staff down hard on her back. While this was going on Rheda had pulled out Yoshiko's dagger.

"You were Emiko!" screamed Sueko, drawing her sword.

"Hmm," smirked Rheda. "Took you long enough."

"What… what did you put in the tea…" muttered Yoshiko, feeling her vision start to haze at the edges.

"Nothing deadly, if that's what you're wondering. Just something to make sure you staid long enough for my spell over the monk to take a full effect," cackled Rheda.

Yoshiko threw out an arm, causing her aunt to let go of her. She felt a sharp pain in her side as she collapsed to the floor at InuYasha's feet. The half tiger demon was able to raise herself up enough to see Rheda holding out her dagger, which had a bit of blood at the end. Her blood on it. Standing behind her aunt was Miroku, his eyes glazed over and carrying an unconscious Sango over his shoulder.

When Yoshiko's arms gave way and left her with her face in the floor Rheda laughed a long cold laugh. InuYasha dropped to his knees next to her. The sound of that laughter caused her blood to boil. Old memories came to her mind, each just as bad as the next. Soon she couldn't stand it anymore. She reached out, grabbed the hilt of InuYasha's sword, got to her feet and lashed out at her aunt. In surprise Rheda only had enough time to jump back. The front of her dress ripped open and she dropped Yoshiko's dagger.

"How! How can you still be awake?" cried Rheda, her now hazel eyes blazing with an inner dark fire.

Since she hardly had the energy to be standing up, Yoshiko didn't answer. Instead she kicked out, hitting Miroku in the stomach. More out of reflects than out of pain he dropped to his knees. Sango slid off his shoulder and onto to the floor behind him without waking up. As if out of annoyance, InuYasha strode over took the Tetsusaiga out of Yoshiko's hands and held her up with his other hand.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked InuYasha, pointing his sword at the tiger demon.

As if in answer Rheda, in a blink of an eye, pulled Sango up in front of her by the hair and lashed out at InuYasha. Because he was holding onto Yoshiko he couldn't move back fast enough. Slender yet strong fingers wound themselves around his neck. Now there wasn't enough room for him to use the Tetsusaiga. Rheda smirked as she saw InuYasha's thoughts in his eyes: drop his sword or drop Yoshiko. Either way there was still the chance he could hurt Sango.

"InuYasha!" cried Sueko, trying to figure out a way to get past the doorway to Rheda.

"Why do you keep such a silly girl around?" asked Rheda in a singsong way.

Before InuYasha could answer, he found himself with Rheda's lips upon his own. He tried to pull away but the hand around his neck only held on tighter. Yoshiko was finding it harder and harder to keep her eyes open, or to even stand up. In one last chance to get out of here, she took Sango's shoulder and started shaking her. The demon exterminator moaned and her eyes started to open slightly. At the same moment Yoshiko noticed Miroku's eyes, still glazed over, open in shock.

"Yoshiko…" mumbled Sango.

The half tiger demon tried to smile reassuringly but found it hard to do much of anything. Just when she was sure InuYasha was going to give in to the kiss Rheda cried out in pain, dropping Sango and stumbling backwards. Blood ran down her leg from a wound from her thigh. She cursed a couple of times before disappearing in a column of flames. Awkwardly InuYasha sheathed his sword and wouldn't face anybody. In the mean time Sango had gotten to her knees and was looking in Miroku's glazed eyes.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Sueko, rushing to InuYasha's side and sheathing her sword.

"I'm fine," said Sango, helping Miroku to his feet.

Yoshiko nodded numbly and swept away InuYasha's hand, holding her up. In utter exhaustion she stumbled back into the room and collapsed, for the last time hopefully, on her bed. She heard Sueko giggle softly but didn't work up the strength to glare at the girl. When finally InuYasha and Sueko had entered the room and sat down as well, Yoshiko opened an eye to see Miroku and Sango.

The monk's eyes were still glazed over, but apparently Sango didn't notice or care. She was holding his hand tightly and blushing something fierce. As if noticing that nobody was in the immediate area she started to lean in as if to kiss Miroku. But even in his possessed state it seemed some things never changed. In fact he didn't just get a large red handprint on his face but ended up with his face planted on the ground with Sango's foot on top of it. Yoshiko moaned and leaned her head back on her mat all the way.

Suddenly Miroku looked up, his eyes completely clear.

"What is going on?" he asked, Sango's foot still on his head. "Did I miss something?"

Crying out in annoyance, Sango went stomping out of the room. Sighing, Yoshiko closed her eyes and decided to get some sleep. Hopefully her cold would go away in at least one day and they could leave. She wasn't in the mood to comfort Sango or explain it to Miroku.

And obviously neither was Sueko or InuYasha.


	18. Shippo, the Pokemon Master!

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Happy Birthday to me! I'm fifteen, WAHOO! So far I haven't come across any sacred shrines containing wells to Feudal Japan, but my dog hasn't exactly ran away and led me to one, and it might only work on extremely fat cats… (I'm sorry, Kagome's cat looks extremely fat!). So maybe Kagome just had all the luck on her fifteenth birthday…. But it's still March 1st, so something still could happen! _Looks out window hopefully_ Anyways, I'm bored, Ravyn's not online so I can't talk to her, and so I'm posting more! It's your basic average Shippo post… they always had a filler episode or two about him so let's have a chapter about him in our fanfic! _Pokèmon_ is mentioned a lot, so sorry if that annoys you… I'm actually not into _Pokèmon_, I just know a lot about it because me, like everyone else my age, was really into it about 4th-5th grade, but whatever… I don't think you have to play the game or anything to understand it. Whatever, just read the damn thing!

**REVIEWS  
**Hmm… I'm bored (duh) so I'm replying to all the reviewers I've gotten so far because I'm sure I'm missing a few…

**BlackTearsOfDarkness**: My computer says your name is spelled wrong… stupid computer! You haven't replied in a while, but that's okay. However, you DO need to update your fan fic! And if you ever do write an InuYasha one you'll have to tell me! I'm sure it'd be really good! (And if you liked Tamika and Keitaro then I guess you just can't wait for chapter twenty…. Too bad you can't read it for a while. I have to post the others first… and edit them…).

**ICYGIRL**: "PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR STORY." Why would I? I have nothing better to do with my life (well, I _could_ do my homework… I always end up doing it in the morning… while watching InuYasha. See, I tape it off adult swim and watch it in the morning… oh, whatever). "I LOVE THIS ONE WITH ORGIONAL CHARACTERS AND ORIGINAL PAIRING; there are too many fanfics with Kagome and InuYasha paring I'm fed up with it." Thanks… I don't think Sueko's very original though. She's too much like me! And Tamika's too much like a very exaggerated version of my friend that's way more ditisery and more feminine… (What makes that creepier is that I came up with Tamika BEFORE I met my friend… But my friend is more of a tomboy, not as stupid, and she doesn't look like some model like Tamika. And she's obsessed with InuYasha, where's Tamika isn't because she doesn't watch that show! I wonder why…). And you know what, Keitaro has always seemed really familiar to me… then Ravyn pointed out that he's like some weird version of Remus (from Harry Potter). Whatever. Oh, and ditto Kagome/InuYasha because Kagome's annoying. I don't feel guilty at all about killing her off (technically Ravyn did… but I came up with the idea!). After all, InuYasha got Sueko so that's okay! "A LITTLE CHANGE IS WELCOME; you are writing a wonderful one with characters full of emotions. It's rare to see characters which have personalities and feelings well developed. SO I HOPE YOU 4LL TRY TO UPDATE SOON; good luck." Um… thank you! Actually, I thought I wrote too much emotion, but this changed my mind with that. And in a recent review you said, "we could make a serie with this one" and I found that really nice because we _have_ been trying to make it realistic, and like the series… without coping any episodes (which that's actually easy… it's more like we're trying not to copy demons that have been there before…). It'd be awesome if we could _watch_ our fan fic on TV, but alas, the screenwriters have yet to stumble across our fan fic and ask for the Copyrights. But we'll keep on dreaming!

**element hanyou**: Well, I don't know about your reading skills but, yeah, this is sorta a long fan fic… and it won't be ending any time soon! Why would it be the end! Like I said before, I'd have nothing else to do! And Sueko and InuYasha have yet to get together, they're so stubborn, and Sesshomaru and Yoshiko haven't even begun to get together, and Miroku has yet to learn that touching girl's butts is a big no-no, and we have yet to even figure out more about Sueko's spiritual power (because there's a tone to it… even if I haven't thought it all through yet!) and we have yet to defeat Kamatari… Plus we have another bad guy showing up… ((HINT/SPOILER: Technically, they've already showed up, they just have yet to reveal themselves… Wink, wink! Think Sesshomaru-Yoshiko!)) So… not ending yet! You'll definitely know when it ends, because it will take several chapters to summarize the damn thing… I mean, you can tell on the TV show when it's about to end, so ditto with the fan fic. The ending won't come at a total surprise… hopefully. And we have no plans to stop any time soon… Whatever, moving on…

**faithful taijiya**: Yeah, I'm surprised it doesn't have that many reviews either. And thanks for saying that my story is original and my characters are well done. Oh, and that it was awesome. Seriously, it was appreciated. It's nice to know we have well done characters since most books seem to have pretty bland ones, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, that's all the reviewers I have. (If I'm wrong blame my computer, not me!) I know, kinda sad since a ton of other fan fics have like sixty, but I'm fine with the amount I have… well, Ravyn is too but whatever… Anyways, read and reply! And don't forget to enjoy it!

**DISCLAIMER**  
I don't own InuYasha... unless I do stumble across a well on my fifteenth birthday, but I'm not that lucky so I doubt it… I have a cold on my Birthday! How sick and twisted is that! Anyways, all we own are (in this post) Sueko, Yoshiko, Shippo's new girlie friend ;) and…. Um… that's it! Oh, and I guess the random village people we came up with… oh, and the plot! We own that! But we don't own _Pokèmon_. I don't know who that belongs to besides Nintendo, so whatever. Let's just be clear that we don't own it so you can't sue us! Hmm… I think that's it… Oh, wait! You know how Sueko's last name is Kimochi? Yeah, erm… turns out that's Japanese for feeling, and I misread the credits, and BoA sang "Every Heart," not something Kimochi… Kimochi is part of the song title…. Yeah, I feel really stupid now… Whatever, I'm not changing the last name because Sueko Kimochi sounds cool, but it's not a last name and technically I sort of _do_ own it now… Unlike Keitaro's name, I stole that… but I needed a guy name! But he has nothing in common with _Love Hina_ Keitaro, so that's okay! And, just warning you, Sueko's really weird in this post. I don't know why, she just is. She's extremely loopy and weird… Whatever, sorry if she annoys you…

**NOTE  
**Kitsune is fox in Japanese. I wasn't in the mood to say "fox demon" all the time so I just settled for "kistune" like other InuYasha fan fic's usually do. And sakura is Japanese for flower (or maybe cherry blossom, I'm not sure) but it's also a name, so whatever!

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Shippo, the Pokèmon Master!**

Two weeks later Yoshiko had already gotten over her cold and the snow had melted enough for the group to be able to travel again. Though Shippo couldn't walk in it because the snow went to his neck, so he was forced to sit on Sueko's shoulder until she got annoyed by him and then he went to Sango's shoulder (he didn't bother trying Yoshiko's shoulder… she'd probably kill him, anyways).

Sitting on Sueko's shoulder on a breezy winter day, Shippo played away with the _Pokèmon_ game he was borrowing from her as the others talked about… well, stuff. It all really confused him and his game was much more interesting. It was just a bunch of grown up stuff about the stones, whatever… He had already gotten all eight badges and all he needed to do was catch all two hundred Pokèmon and beat the Elite Four in order to complete the game! Though when he explained his excitement to Sueko she seemed very uninterested… Kagome would probably have been happy about such exciting news!

Eventually InuYasha took the GameBoy away from Shippo in annoyance. He found this extremely unfair but when he expressed his feelings all InuYasha did was hit him aside the head! And then he hit him again when Shippo tried to steal InuYasha's music thingy. And then Sueko hit Shippo on the head also for, "Being a big brat!" How could these two treat him so cruelly? How would he ever become the Pokèmon Master if he couldn't play his game?

Shippo was in a fowl mood all the way to the village, which the group was visiting because their food supply was low and Sueko complained that there was no way she was living off wild animals and since it was winter they lacked of any anyways.

Once they were at the village and Miroku had reserved a room (with Sango keeping an eye on him), Sueko had starting fretting over the whole hitting-Shippo-over-the-head-thing.

"I'm really, really, really sorry about it, Shippo! Please stop being mad about it! You being upset makes _me_ upset and I'd rather be happy! Even if I'm cold and hungry…"

"Oh, shut up about wanting food already," said InuYasha crankily.

"You're the one who ate all the ramón in three days!" snapped Sueko.

"Why are you asking for your sorry, anyways? The brat totally deserved it!" complained InuYasha.

"I'm not a brat!" cried Shippo, crossing his arms.

"Ha! If your not a spoiled brat then I don't have dog ears!" cried InuYasha.

"Then it must be the new moon!" Shippo shouted.

"Will you all act your age?" Yoshiko muttered tiredly.

"But Shippo _is_ acting his age," said Sueko.

"Then maybe he should grow up about twenty years then," sighed Yoshiko.

To Yoshiko's delight (for she felt as though her head was splitting in two) Miroku and Sango showed up a few minutes later with the rooms.

"Yay! I get to sleep in a bed again!" cried out Sueko, jumping up from her sitting position when she had heard the news.

"Who do you think you are, Kagome?" snapped InuYasha.

"Wha?" said Sueko, frowning with confusion.

"Nothing…" mumbled InuYasha, looking away.

"Uh…" said Sueko, still confused.

"I'm glad that we got a place to stay and all but somehow I'm not sure…" said Sango mostly to herself as the group headed to the building at which they were staying.

"What do you mean?" asked Yoshiko.

"They didn't charge us anything," said Sango.

"So? With Miroku around we usually get away with not paying anything," muttered InuYasha.

"It's not that… it's _why_ they didn't make us pay," said Sango.

"Huh?" said Sueko. "I'm lost…"

"Well," said Sango slowly, "They figured out that Miroku was a monk and that I was a demon slayer and they were all of a sudden extremely courteous to us. It was like they were honored that we were in their village."

"Um… okay, whatever. As long as I get a comfy mat to sleep on for once I'm fine with it!" said Sueko.

"Would you stop complaining, already!" snapped InuYasha.

"I'm not complaining, though," said Sueko.

"Are too!" cried InuYasha.

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Oh, shut up and SIT!"

"Enough of that!" cried Miroku as InuYasha started muttering curse words on the ground.

Shippo looked around on Sango's shoulder; Sueko and InuYasha's bickering had attracted quite a crowd and after the whole sit thing the villagers started whispering to each other.

"Now look what you two have done. I'm surprised I can go out in public with you all," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

It was then that a brave looking little boy walked over to Yoshiko with his big brown eyes opened wide in wonder.

She had a little smile on her face as she kneeled down to the boy's level and she made her eyes look wide with her hands on her hips. "What?" she asked tonelessly.

"Are you—are you really a demon?" the boy asked in a small, shy sort of voice that made Sueko put her hands together and cry out, "Oh, he's so adorable!" This of course made InuYasha roll his eyes and scowl as he was able to get up from the sitting thing. And as he stood up more whispers were heard from the villagers.

"Um… does it matter?" asked Yoshiko, looking a bit taken aback.

"I've never seen a real demon before!" the boy cried out. "Are your ears real? Can I touch them?"

"I guess…" muttered Yoshiko as she kneeled down again.

"What do you mean you've never seen a demon before?" asked Sueko. "I thought everyone hated demons. Though I don't understand why anyone could hate a half dog demon," she added with a grin at InuYasha.

"What are you up to?" InuYasha muttered.

"Please? Just for a few seconds?" begged Sueko.

"What are you talking about!" cried InuYasha.

"You're ears…"

"No."

"Please?"

"I'm not a pet!"

"So?"

"Shut up!"

"Actually, Sueko did point out an interesting question," said Miroku.

"What did I do?" asked Sueko, who had completely forgotten about what had happened ten seconds ago.

A young woman stepped up from the crowd to say, "We realize that almost all demons are evil and want us dead, but we still respect their powers."

"Huh?" said Sueko, still confused.

"Our village practices the martial arts so we can become more stronger. But we realize that as humans our powers are still much weaker compared to demons."

"I still don't get it…" said Sueko.

"I don't think you ever will," muttered InuYasha, rolling his eyes with a scowl.

"Are you saying you respect all of us for our strength and that's why you're being so polite?" Miroku asked.

The little boy still petting Yoshiko's ears cried out, "Uh huh!" very eagerly.

"I give up!" cried Sueko, sitting down on the ground while hugging her knees to her stomach.

"What on earth are you doing?" InuYasha muttered.

"What? Can't a girl sit down when she wants to?" said Sueko innocently. InuYasha just sighed and crossed his arms grumpily.

Shippo, bored with the festivities at hand, jumped off Sango's shoulder just as another villager asked her about what it was like to be a demon slayer. Being so small, it was easy to shift through the many people standing around, and Shippo was left looking around the village wondering what he should do now. Being a little kid bored out of his mind, Shippo still didn't see anything remotely interesting in a village that appeared to be so large.

"What are you doing?" cried a voice behind Shippo.

'Oh crap! I'm in trouble now!' thought Shippo guiltily as he turned around to face the person. But it wasn't Yoshiko or Sueko like he thought it would be. Instead what faced him was a young girl (maybe about eight or ten years old) with chest-length dark brown hair put up in a half ponytail with narrow brown eyes. She was wearing a plain white kimono that actually looked quite elegant.

"Who are you?" asked Shippo curiously.

"_What_ are you doing?" repeated the girl. She had a really bossy sort of voice that gave Shippo the impression that this wasn't the type of person to mess around with. A lot like InuYasha… except for this girl was just more annoying.

"Um… I'm looking around your village…" said Shippo nervously. What was he supposed to say?

"You look awfully suspicious to me!" scoffed the girl, crossing her arms and looking quite arrogant.

"Do you think I want to harm your village?" asked Shippo. "Why would I want to? Everyone here is so nice…"

"Humph!" said the girl.

'Well, if she's going to act _that_ way…' thought Shippo to himself as he decided it would be best to just ignore a girl as rude as her as he turned and started walking away.

"Wait!" he heard the girl cry behind him.

"What?" asked Shippo, turning around.

"You have a tail…" the girl muttered, pointing to the fuzzy thing behind Shippo with a shocked expression on her face.

"Well, yeah! I'm a kitsune demon, after all!" said Shippo proudly, pointing to himself.

A rude laughing one replaced the girl's stunned expression as she cried out, "You so are not a demon!"

Shippo frowned and put down the hand. "I am too!"

"How could a puny little brat like you be a demon?" retorted the girl, laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.

"Hey!" How could she call him a puny little brat when she first met him!

"I could _so_ beat you a thousand times!" cried the girl, who had eventually calmed down enough to not laugh.

"You could not! Demons are a lot stronger than humans!" cried Shippo.

"But you're not a demon!" said the girl in triumph.

"I am too!" cried Shippo.

"No, you aren't."

Shippo sighed in anger. "What do I have to do in order to prove I'm a demon, then?"

The girl was silent, looking quite thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I challenge you to a duel!"

"A _duel_? I'll so beat you, though!" cried Shippo.

"No you won't. I'm a professional martial artist." Then the girl grinned. "Meet you by that tree tomorrow at sunset. See yeah!" She gave a quick wave before running off.

"A _duel_? With a _martial artist_? Shippo, what did you get yourself into?" Shippo cried to himself miserably. "There's no way I'll get myself out of this one!"

* * *

The next day came by way too quickly for Shippo. He had no clue what he'd do that evening. There was only so many powers a young kitsune such as himself had. And he didn't exactly want to hurt her… He didn't even know what sort of duel this was!

Why did it all have to be so complicated?

Shippo sat under a tree surrounded by all the snow pondering what on earth he'd do. There was one idea he had, but it probably wouldn't work…

_The sky was filled with purples, pinks and oranges as Shippo stood underneath the tree, patiently waiting for the girl to show up. A few minutes later she showed up with the same plain white outfit and the same half ponytail._

"_Ready?" the girl asked slyly, raising up one arm at a time to stretch._

"_Yep!" said Shippo, crossing his arms with a clever sort of expression on his face._

"_Then let's get this duel started!" cried the girl, getting into a tricky sort of martial arts stance._

_Just as she started to kick Shippo in the face everything went in slow motion as Shippo coolly reached over to his belt that had just suddenly appeared and pulled out a red and white round ball. Pressing the button, he threw the ball out and cried out, "Go, PIKACHU!" as the girl continued to kick in slow motion._

_The small yellow mouse-like creature charged a lighting bolt towards the girl as her leg continued to go towards Shippo's head in slow motion. But then she stopped trying to kick Shippo and returned to normal speed as the lighting bolt made her hair all spiky and her clothes and face dirty._

"_What was that!" she cried._

"_A Pokèmon!" said Shippo slyly._

_The girl looked nervous and taken aback for a moment before crying out, "I forfeit this duel!" and ran away._

"_Go Shippo!" cried Sueko, who had suddenly appeared behind Shippo. She started jumping up and down with her arms in the air going, "Hooray!"_

"_Sheesh, Shippo, you're so strong! I could never fight like that!" cried InuYasha. "Maybe I should let you borrow my music thingy!"_

"_Shippo, you're my hero!" cried Yoshiko, who picked up Shippo to hug him. Sango and Miroku started throwing out confetti and the whole village cheered Shippo on._

'Nope! That _so_ would never happen! I need a better idea, quick!' thought Shippo desperately.

* * *

A girl in plain white robes with her hair in a half-ponytail sighed as she leaned against the tree exasperatedly, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. "He's late," she muttered to herself as she squinted past the setting sun in search of that short kitsune she was about to duel. _If_ he showed up, that is… She couldn't help laughing at the thought of the kitsune chickening out and forfeiting the duel.

Actually, a few minutes later the girl found out that the kitsune _hadn't_ chickened out as he walked over from behind the tree and stood a few feet in front of the girl with his arms crossed. She couldn't believe that a kid that short could call himself stronger then her! But he _did_ sort of look cute…

'What am I thinking!' the girl thought, shaking away the thought. 'I'm going to duel the weak-willed little kid and win victoriously! And then I'll turn my back never to see the pathetic kid ever again! Nothing too it! But I can't be strong if I start wanting to become friends with the weakling!'

"Ready?" she cried out, stepping away from the tree and putting her hands on her hips.

"Uh huh," said the kitsune, who backed away a few feet and got ready for a fight. She tired to not laugh at the expression on his face—you could _so_ tell he was totally nervous and not prepared at all! 'This'll be a piece of cake!' the girl thought, plastering a smug grin on her face and getting into _her_ fighting pose, which looked a lot more professional then the kitsunes one.

"Okay, then! One, two, three…"

Without waiting for the kitsune to do anything, the girl immediately started attacking, watching as the kitsune dodged her blows. When the kitsune almost got hit on the head by the girl's foot, she could tell that an idea was stirring in his head judging by the small smile that appeared on the boy's face.

A poof of smoke appeared, making the girl cover her mouth as she coughed. When the fog cleared a few seconds later her eyes widened by the sight of about twenty kitsune clones, all grinning at her.

When she scowled at the many faces they laughed. "I beat you can't figure out which one of us is the _real_ Shippo!" they all cried out.

The girl clenched her teeth and glared. She knew there was a trick to figuring out who the real demon was but she couldn't remember what her father had told her.

With a sigh she decided to just pick a target and if that didn't work go to the next target. A weak plan but it was the only thing she had at the moment.

Kicking at nothing but air the many Shippo's—well, that's what she guessed the kitsunes name was—the girl cried out in anger at she used her arm to hit another one—only to discover that that too was only air. This went on for several minutes until a voice stopped the girl's hitting and stopped Shippo's laughing as he became only one Shippo.

"What on earth is going on here?" cried a girl in a strange black shirt and blue pants with messy brown hair.

"Uh…" started Shippo, but was interrupted by the white haired boy accompanying the girl, who walked over to Shippo in his red clothing and whacked him aside the head.

"Ow…" muttered Shippo. "What was that for!"

"For being a brat who gets into stupid fights every two seconds!" complained the white haired boy. The girl noticed he had what looked like dog-ears on top of his head. They looked really soft…

"Since when does Shippo get into fights?" the brown haired girl wanted to know. "Well, besides with you…"

"What are you two arguing about _now_?" complained yet another person—this one had bright orange hair and what seemed like dog-ears too, except judging by their color the girl guessed this lady was a tiger demon. Or a _half_ tiger demon, just like the white haired boy was a _half_ dog demon. Though she could be wrong…. Not that that was likely, but whatever…

"Shippo was fighting with this girl over here," explained the brown haired girl. "Hey, what's your name, anyways?" she added, turning over to the girl and smiling kindly at her.

"Sakura," the girl muttered, crossing her arms.

"Oh, what a pretty name! And you just look so cute…"

Sakura noticed out of the corner of her eye the white haired boy rolling his eyes exasperatedly.

"Shippo, why would you go fighting with some random village girl for?" asked the half tiger demon tiredly. "Don't you have better things to do? What about that game thing you're always staring at?"

"She's the one who wanted to duel me!" Shippo cried innocently, pointing at Sakura. She just rolled her eyes at the kitsune.

"Why would you want to duel him for?" asked the white haired boy.

"Because I was bored," said Sakura simply. "And also just to prove that I'm way stronger then him, even if he _is_ a kitsune like he says he is…"

"Now I've seen everything," muttered the brown haired girl.

"Whatever," said the white haired boy. "Look, Shippo, we're leaving the village now, so get your stuff and say good-bye to your little girly friend because I won't be standing around waiting for you."

Shippo's face turned pink. "She's NOT my girly friend!"

The brown haired girl laughed. "Denying your feelings just only proves they're true," she teased.

"Shut up!"

"Hmm, should I get involved or not?" joked the tiger demon.

"SHUT UP!"

"Not that I can blame Shippo or anything," said the brown haired girl suddenly, looking thoughtful. "The girl is so cute with her hair up like that…"

Sakura could feel her cheeks burning in embarrassment but she choose to ignore it as she cried out above the brown haired girl's giggling, "Look, I'm not a cute and adorable little kid and I'm not Shippo's 'girly friend'… whatever that is. And if Shippo has to leave why can't he just forfeit the duel already!" she added, turning to Shippo with her hand on her hips and one eyebrow raised.

"Forfeit the duel?" repeated Shippo, looking a bit confused.

"He forfeits! Come on, Shippo!" cried InuYasha.

"But then I'd lose!" cried Shippo miserably.

"Well," said Sakura comfortingly, "you weren't ever strong enough to beat me in the first place!"

"Hey! I am too! Come back!" cried Shippo but Sakura didn't say another word as she walked away, putting her hand up to wave good-bye.

She could hear in the background the half tiger demon say, "Shippo, calm down! So what if you're a weak, pathetic little thing? If you actually practiced and trained you'd be stronger!"

'Ha! I doubt he'll ever be as strong as me!'

* * *

"That has got to be the weirdest village I have ever been too," said Sango a few hours later as the group headed west.

"I don't know… there'll a lot of freak-people out there," muttered InuYasha.

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" asked Sueko.

"That you humans are very, very strange," said InuYasha.

"Those half dog demons are stranger," muttered Sueko.

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean!" growled InuYasha.

"Oh… _nothing_…" chimed Sueko, smiling.

It was quiet after that. The only sound you could hear was the sounds of nature and the beeping of Shippo's _Pokèmon_ game. Okay, it was actually Sueko's, but Shippo was just borrowing it, so whatever! Yoshiko was finally enjoying the silence that lingered afterwards (everyone's bickering had been giving her a splitting headache lately), which was probably why she moaned so loudly when Shippo jumped off Sueko's shoulder and started crying out in joy.

"What is your problem now?" muttered InuYasha.

"I won! I won! Go Shippo! Go Shippo!" cried Shippo as he spun on the spot.

"Have you been smoking those mushrooms of yours?" Sueko muttered. She looked down at Shippo and noticed that he was still holding the GameBoy. "Oh. You _won_ the game…"

"I'm the best Pokèmon Master of them all!" cried Shippo.

"If it took you five months to beat the game then no, you aren't," muttered Sueko. "I won that thing in a month… okay, a month and a half."

"Can you take the thing away from him now?" asked InuYasha.

"I'll do it," muttered Yoshiko, who jerked the thing out of Shippo's head only to whack him on the head with the GameBoy.

"OW! What was THAT for?" whined Shippo.

"For being loud and annoying and giving me a headache!" cried Yoshiko. "Here: keep this as far away from him as humanly possible," she muttered, tossing the thing to Sueko. She fumbled with it in the air before finally catching it, and with it in her hands she took out the game cartage and started fumbling around in her book bag.

"What are you doing?" asked InuYasha.

"Well, now that I get the dang thing back I want to play with my new Zelda game that I got for Christmas," said Sueko simply, finding her Zelda game cartage and popping it into her GameBoy before turning it on and starting to play with it herself.

Shippo sighed. "I wish I could borrow it…"

"Screw you!" cried Sueko, not taking her eyes away from the GameBoy screen.

InuYasha looked over Sueko's shoulder at the game. "That looks a lot more interesting then the other game…"

"I get to use a sword!" agreed Sueko.

"Ha. Mines better," muttered InuYasha.

"But _mine_ glows," said Sueko.

"So? Mine transforms!"

"Um… mine does stuff! Stuff I don't even understand!"

"At least I can use the Backlash Wave!"

"Oh, shut up!" cried Yoshiko. "You two could argue about anything, couldn't you?" When InuYasha and Sueko just blinked at Yoshiko she sighed and muttered, "Never mind…" before starting to walk again towards their destination (which was no where in particular).

Shrugging, Sueko and InuYasha followed her, along with Miroku and Sango who shook their heads and a Shippo that was trying to run as fast as he could with his short little legs.


	19. Complicated Love

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Wow, it's the chapter that changes everything! MUHAHAHA! Okay, sorta… I'm just being a _tad_ bit dramatic but who cares? Anyways, I'm going to reply to the many replies to this fan fic because I have nothing better to do (well, I've gotten like five since the last time I posted, and for me that's a lot, so shut up!) 

**peachpit**: Cute username! Glad you found my fan fic funny. Except your only on chapter four and if you find just _that_ funny than I suggest you read more… and don't sue me if a lung pops! And yes, I sort of _did_ take the sword that glows blue thing from Lord of the Rings. Well… Kagome sensed the Shikon Jewel Shards so Sueko was going to be able to sense the Shrine Stones, except I thought just plain sensing them for really no reason was rather retarded (one of the reasons I found Kagome extremely annoying was because she was "Oh my freakin' God, so powerful!" I mean, being even more powerful than Kikyo is just messed up!) so I decided to have the "mysterious and powerful sword that does all these cool things that no one really understands" be able to sense the stones… by glowing… and I choose blue as the color because Frodo's sword glowed blue (I was in a LOTR's mood, shut up!). And no on really does understand Sueko's sword… neither do I. I just make it up as I go. But no one needs to know that… ;) But I'm glad you like Sueko more than Kagome. Seeing how I hate Kagome and Sueko's so terribly like me even though I didn't mean to write her that way… but her character comes out more later on (you're only on chapter four according to your last reply) so whatever.

**ICYGIRL**: Um… you didn't really say much except "write more." And I'm seriously working on that, don't worry!

**elemental hanyou**: Thank you for saying "Happy Birthday." And don't worry about your reading skills. I mean, I read fast but I've been reading since like Kindergarten… I mean, as soon as I learned how to read that's all I did… besides breath, eat, and sleep. Kind of like a character I made up for this fan fic except he draws instead of reads… well, he reads manga… but he doesn't show up for such a long time… _cries_ Oh well.

Oh, and in case you care I re-wrote the introduction to our fan fic that explains how Kagome died and all that crap. But it actually explains what happened to Kikyo, Kagura, Kanna, and Kohaku and all that crap so you can go read that if you want…

**DISCLAIMER  
**Maybe if I possessed Rumiko Takahashi I'd own InuYasha, except I'm not a demon and I have better things to do then going around possessing people… and I wouldn't own the _real_ InuYasha, just the little drawings of the people. Hey, I actually drew InuYasha the other day. For my first drawing of him it's not that bad… The cheeks could be drawn way better but whatever. ANYWAYS, if it's not on the TV show or manga it belongs to Ravyn and _watashi_ (Japanese for me. There, you can tell your parents you learned something today!). Now go read fan fic and reply so I know if it's any good or not!

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Complicated Love**

Fireflies hovered over the endless field, lighting up the green grass. That was the only source of light for the moon was almost gone from the sky. Suddenly the glowing bugs were scattered as the flap to the hut was opened and out stepped Yoshiko. Sighing, she threw her bag over her shoulder to make it easier to carry. It was small but she figured there would be a large distance to travel. In her other hand she carried her sword out of its sheath just in case she had a run in with demons.

Standing outside right in front of the doorway was Sueko. At first Yoshiko was sure the girl was asleep on her feet. But when Sueko's eyes completely cleared her face turned to a scowl. In fear, Yoshiko took a step back, eyes wide. Sueko continued to put her hands on her hips and leaning forward to glare at Yoshiko.

"So…" she said.

"What are you doing up?" asked Yoshiko, not looking the girl in the eyes. Instead she looked off at the trees in the distance.

"You were awfully quiet all day! I _knew_ you were going to be leaving without saying anything!" snapped Sueko.

"Can you blame me?" sighed Yoshiko, looking at Sueko.

A thoughtful expression crossed Sueko's face as she straightened up and looked at the half-demon quizzically. Yoshiko adjusted her bag over her shoulder, her feet starting to go numb in the cold. She was hoping to make good time by leaving at night and hopefully not having to travel too much that morning. Maybe even get a small nap in. But now Sueko, being the curious and stubborn girl that she was, was holding her up. Then suddenly Sueko smiled sadly.

"You really like him, don't you?" she said softly.

Yoshiko blinked as she tried to figure out if there was a hidden meaning in Sueko's words. But really they were as plain as she had said them. Despite this it took her a while to figure out what to say to this.

"Who?" asked Yoshiko, suddenly feeling guilty.

"Sesshomaru, you dimwit!" cried Sueko, hitting Yoshiko on the head.

Yoshiko was about to tell her to keep quiet or she would wake the others but apparently Sueko wasn't the only one up. Behind the half tiger demon stirred Sango, InuYasha and Miroku, not one of them looking like they had been asleep. Yoshiko sighed and hung her head. There was no way she was going to get out of here now. Not with everybody on Sueko's side anyways.

"So, you like Sesshomaru do you!" said Miroku, grinning mischievously.

"Will you stay out of my business?" cried Yoshiko, swinging her bag at the monk's head and stomping out of the hut and past Sueko.

"Hey!" cried Sueko, running after her. "Don't leave yet!"

"Well, it's nice to know that I can tell my friends things and expect them to keep it a secret," said Yoshiko icily.

"Look, I'm sorry okay! I only told InuYasha, I don't know how Sango and Miroku found out!" snapped Sueko, grapping Yoshiko by the arm to try and turn her around. Since Yoshiko was way stronger all she did was stop the half demon.

"Well, InuYasha opened his big mouth when I came back," said Yoshiko, feeling that her voice wasn't really hers.

"I was worried that your stupid crush on Sesshomaru would get us all in trouble so I told InuYasha! I really am sorry though…" said Sueko.

Tears crept to the corner of her eyes as the words sunk in. It was true that if she kept up the way she was it would get people killed. But how could Sueko say such a thing? Her arms started shaking as she turned around to face the girl. By this time tears were streaming freely down her face.

"What about your stupid crush on InuYasha? Don't you think that maybe _it_ will get us in trouble?" shouted Yoshiko. Almost a second later she regretted it, seeing the fearful and confused look on the girl's face.

"Cr—crush? What crush?" stammered Sueko in a timid voice and taking a step back. "We're talking about Sesshomaru here! He did try to kill me and other people, you know!"

"Maybe he's changed. Did you ever think about that? Besides, from what I heard InuYasha wasn't exactly a saint either," growled Yoshiko.

"Will you stop changing the subject?" shrieked Sueko, her cheeks starting to turn a little pink. "Anyways, how can you be so sure Sesshomaru changed? People like him don't suddenly change. Why would he change? _How_ could he have changed?"

"You're rambling…" hissed Yoshiko.

"So what!" cried Sueko. "You're not listening!"

"When you tell me something worth listening to I might," snapped Yoshiko.

"Me caring about your well-being isn't worth listening to?" said Sueko, starting to shake herself. "I'm really just worried about you, Yoshiko. Really, I am."

"Stop it then," said Yoshiko in a low voice, her eyes darkening. "People who worry about my well-being only end up dead."

"Am I interrupting something?" asked InuYasha, walking up to the girls. When neither answered he continued. "Well, don't you have somewhere you would much rather be?"

Yoshiko looked up in surprise, her tired green eyes meeting InuYasha's completely serious hazel ones. Despite everything that had been said Sueko wasn't about to just give up. Her green-hazel eyes narrowed.

"You're just going to let her walk off?" cried Sueko. "You hate Sesshomaru! Don't you…"

"Yeah," shrugged InuYasha, "but Yoshiko can't help who she falls in love with and it isn't like he's tried to kill her. Plus, she hasn't given us a reason to distrust her."

"Okay, I don't really have a problem with Yoshiko leaving but she really should think about this! Besides, she shouldn't go running off with out telling—" started Sueko. But when she looked back to see Yoshiko she had gone. "Dammit!"

"Hey, we know where she's going," shrugged InuYasha, smiling slightly.

* * *

Though quite a lot of time had been wasted trying to get away from the others, Yoshiko still made good time. Around noon when she was contemplating stopping for lunch, she felt suddenly like she was being watched. For a while she tried to ignore it, knowing that there was nothing within a hundred miles, but when it continued she found herself trying to figure out a way of losing them without making it obvious. Finally she figured out that this was a familiar sensation. Trying to surprise him, she turned around suddenly.

As she expected, standing right in front of her was Sesshomaru. For some reason Yoshiko felt like he had changed since she had last seen him. But this change wasn't very evident by how he looked. It was more something in his eyes or so she thought. That was the only thing she could pin it on though. Quickly his eyes moved over her as if checking to make sure it was really her or to see if she was in one piece. Yoshiko shook herself mentally at the last thought. When he seemed satisfied he turned around and walked off.

'He must really think of me as part of the group if he expects me to just follow,' thought Yoshiko as she fell into step behind him. 'Of course I feel more at home here than with InuYasha and the gang.'

Surprisingly the walk wasn't that long. Soon Sesshomaru stopped on the edge of a very small clearing where Rin was playing in some leftover snow. She ran around gleefully, throwing handfuls of the white stuff and sometimes throwing it at the back of Jaken's head. Yoshiko could see the anger starting to build up in the imp as snowball after snowball collided with him, but he staid pretty calm.

All that stopped when Rin noticed Yoshiko standing not too far away. The girl's brown eyes went wide as she cried out happily. She ran forward and grabbed Yoshiko's hand with both her own as if trying to pull her out of the trees. The half-demon smiled slightly, dropped her stuff and allowed her to get pulled out into the snow. She felt Sesshomaru's eyes on her back as she and Rin had a small but furious snowball fight. Rin soon forced Jaken in. By late afternoon they were all tired out and decided to move on to find a nicer place to rest.

That night Rin curled up at Yoshiko's feet as she leaned against a tree as usual to try and get some rest. It was strange how natural and simple this seemed to feel to Yoshiko as she watched the sleeping girl. When it seemed assured that she would fall asleep herself Sesshomaru's shadow loomed over her. All day she had been quite sure that she was over him. But suddenly her heart quickened its paced and she had to force herself to look up at him without blushing.

"Can we talk?" asked Sesshomaru.

Automatically Yoshiko went jumping to conclusions. What kind of things would Sesshomaru want to talk about? What was so important that it had to wait until this late at night? Surely it couldn't be… Maybe he was just wondering why she left so quickly a couple of weeks ago. Or why it had taken her so long to come back. He could even want to tell her not to come back. Despite all these ideas, Yoshiko was still curious so stood up and followed after Sesshomaru. He slowed his pace slightly so they were practically walking side by side. This unnerved Yoshiko slightly.

"You've been away a while," noted Sesshomaru after they were a good distance from the camp.

Yoshiko glanced sideways at him but saw no sign that he really cared. In fact it almost seemed beyond what he really wanted to talk about. Silently she sighed and looked down at her feet.

"Well, I got a cold and then my aunt showed up. She decided she wanted to possess one of my friends. Then Shippo got into some sort of trouble or another," explained Yoshiko. She looked at Sesshomaru again but still saw nothing on his face. She shrugged. "Then I decided that I wasn't really needed with the others."

Slightly Sesshomaru nodded to show he knew the rest. Still they walked in silence. Yoshiko suddenly started to think that he didn't want to talk. And if he did he couldn't seem to figure out how to say it.

'That's ridiculous,' Yoshiko reprimanded herself. 'Sesshomaru's the kind of guy who doesn't care what he says.'

As her mind was running through these circles, Sesshomaru stopped suddenly. When Yoshiko realized this, he all ready turned toward the trees and putting his hand on the hilt of his sword. But from the other side she heard footsteps. She then found herself back to back with Sesshomaru as oddly shaped men came out. At times they seemed solid but then they wavered and refracted the light. They also moved oddly, seeming to be in one place by suddenly growing or reforming in another.

"They're not human," growled Sesshomaru.

Everything seemed to stand still for a moment. Then an arrow came out of the trees from the side. Both Yoshiko and Sesshomaru moved out of the way and drew their sword in the same moment. In the same motion Yoshiko swung her sword at one of the men. The attack slid through almost as if nothing was there. She didn't stop to think about it but kicked out at the next. When she felt nothing she lost her balance and fell over backwards. One of the men stepped over and raised its sword.

The first attack she dodged and was able to pull out her dagger. She stabbed him in the thigh but the only sign that there was any thing was a sudden gust of wind her face. In surprise she realized the complete truth of Sesshomaru's words. She doubted he even knew it. So when the next attack same she sat still and sure enough the sword broke apart into nothing but a weird sort of vapor. Someone out there had an air stone…

"Sesshomaru!" cried Yoshiko, getting to her feet and her face set. "Move out the way!"

Without hesitating Sesshomaru jumped into the cover of the trees. By the simple will of her mind fire leapt up from her sword. Her eyes narrowed as she swung the blade from her left side to her right as far as her arm would go. A fire leapt up engulfing the airmen and sending them shrieking. In seconds the trail was clear and Sesshomaru came striding back out.

"I need to practice more often," sighed Yoshiko, putting her sword away. "That was exhausting."

"It would be for anyone," said Sesshomaru. "We should head back."

"No," said Yoshiko. "There's a stone near by and I need to get it!"

"Very well," said Sesshomaru, surprising her.

'Sueko is lucky,' sighed Yoshiko. 'At least InuYasha's friends understand his actions and explain it to her. Sesshomaru makes no sense to anyone…'

* * *

The gang hadn't gotten much traveling done the next day since Sueko was still a little angry with Yoshiko for leaving. But what made her even angrier was everybody seemed to agree with Yoshiko for going off to find Sesshomaru. But according to Sueko Sesshomaru was a huge jerk, needed to die and Yoshiko needed to get over him. InuYasha hated his older brother and all but it was probably good for Yoshiko to even realize that she was in love.

InuYasha sighed and willed the sun not to set. In fact it would be just fine if it staid halfway for the rest of his life. As he watched the sunset he thought back to the last new moon and what Yoshiko had told him. Why was it that he had to be supposedly in love again? Couldn't he have just been in love with Kikyo and stuck with that? But now he didn't really care about Kikyo that much. But also according to Yoshiko since he could get over Kikyo he could also get over Kagome.

'Wait… haven't I already gotten over Kagome?' thought InuYasha. 'And why is it that Yoshiko seems to know something about _everything_?'

Finally the sun had set and the new moon rose. As his hair turned black and his claws shrunk he put his head in his hand. Not too long afterwards he felt somebody sit down next to him but InuYasha continued to look off into the distance. He didn't have to look to know it was Sueko. At the moment he didn't really want to talk to her. Especially since he was worried she would start blaming him for letting Yoshiko walk off. She had a temper larger than Kagome's as times.

"Hey," said Sueko, pulling lightly at his hair.

"What?" snapped InuYasha, finally looking at her out of the corners of his eyes.

"You going to not get captured by a random demon this time?" joked Sueko. "Or do anything stupid?"

"Since when did I do something stupid?" cried InuYasha, turning toward her.

"Well, thinking that the Tetsusaiga would transform when you're human is pretty stupid," said Sueko, crossing her arms.

"Feh."

The silence hung over them almost thick as a cloud. InuYasha wanted to say something to break the awkwardness but knew speaking would be just as awkward. Feeling restless he stood up and looked down at Sueko who just blinked a couple of times.

"I'm going for a walk," said InuYasha, looking away and feeling his cheeks go a little pink. "Want—want to come with?"

"Uh…" said Sueko, getting her feet slowly and brushing off non-existent dirt from her pants. "I guess."

If he thought the strange feeling would go away, InuYasha was wrong. In fact walking alone with Sueko in the woods made him feel even weirder. He found himself looking at Sueko but when she noticed, looking away. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't think of anything to say though he wanted to say something! But whatever that something was he couldn't think of… or didn't want to think about.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' thought InuYasha.

"So… InuYasha…" said Sueko suddenly. Her voice seemed so small after the long silence that he almost jumped in surprise. "If you hate your brother so much… why do you let Yoshiko go off to see him?"

Sueko looked up threateningly and InuYasha found himself stopping. He swallowed in fear and felt himself sweating guiltily. When he continued to say nothing Sueko put her hands on her hips and leaned in closer, narrowing her eyes.

"Well?"

"What do you want me to say?" cried InuYasha, looking away.

"You're avoiding the question!" snapped Sueko.

"What do you expect? You won't shut up about it! Give it a rest okay!" snapped InuYasha.

"But I don't want to!" cried Sueko. "Yoshiko's my friend and I don't want her to like… get herself killed or something!"

"I don't think we have to worry about Sesshomaru killing Yoshiko," sighed InuYasha, starting to get annoyed.

"How do we know though? How do we know!" cried Sueko dramatically, shaking InuYasha slightly.

"Ugh," sighed InuYasha, putting his head in his hand and shaking his head. "Give it up all ready. Now let's head back before the others start wondering where we are."

"Whatever," shrugged Sueko, turning back toward the hut.

InuYasha sighed in relief and started off not looking to see if Sueko would follow. He just figured she would. But then he realized that she wasn't following. He turned back around to see Sueko staring off into the trees trying to see something and her face full of confusion.

"Come on! What's taking you so long?" called InuYasha.

"I thought I saw… someone," said Sueko.

InuYasha looked off into the trees but saw nothing. Just to make Sueko feel better he went over to the trees and tried looking harder. But there was nobody there. He shrugged and turned back.

"There's nothing there. Hurry up!" snapped InuYasha.

"Okay, Mr. Bossy!" shouted Sueko, running after him. "But I still swear I saw something!"

"Think what you want but there wasn't anything there," said InuYasha.

"Not when _you_ looked anyways," said Sueko.

"God dammit! You're not going to let this go either! You're so stubborn!" shouted InuYasha.

"I know you are but what about me?" joked Sueko, skipping past him and grabbing the sleeve of his kimono. "Now will you hurry up? The others are probably worried by now."

"Oh boy…" muttered InuYasha, allowing himself to be dragged along. And as they walked along he smiled, feeling lucky to have a friend like Sueko.

* * *

The demon aura was coming from a large shrine in the middle of the forest. If that was strange enough a yellowish barrier surrounded the building. Just when Yoshiko was about to step out of the cover of the trees Sesshomaru put a hand on her shoulder. Her heart jumped up into her throat and she looked slowly over her shoulder. It almost seemed like he was worried but that couldn't be right. His eyes looked softer than usual but at the same time harder. Yoshiko closed her eyes for a few seconds then opened them again but still Sesshomaru's expression was the same.

"Do you have any idea what to expect?" asked Sesshomaru.

'Of course…' thought Yoshiko a little disappointed. 'He just wants to have the edge in the fight! He doesn't really care about anything else… or me…'

"Well… no, not really. Most likely there will be more a defense than just the shield but I don't think they'll be as easy to beat as the water guys," said Yoshiko, trying to ignore the hand on her shoulder.

What was even stranger than everything else that day was when Sesshomaru pulled away his hand it seemed to linger on her hair. Yoshiko swallowed and turned away a bit too quickly. She started toward the shrine expecting something to attack and knowing that Sesshomaru was following her. When they were half way between the trees and the barrier a burst of dark energy came from their right. In a blink of an eye both Sesshomaru and Yoshiko had drawn their swords.

The energy dispersed and in it's place stood a yellowish-gold colored ogre. It brought its fist down upon them but they both jumped out of the way. When Yoshiko landed she was about to send a fire attack at the ogre, but it reached out and grabbed her around the waist. It started to lift her up, and since her arms were pinned to her side she couldn't do anything about it. Sesshomaru leapt forward and swung his sword, cutting off the ogre's arm.

Yoshiko was thrown backwards and when she lifted up her hand she saw ogre hit Sesshomaru aside. She gasped and quickly got to her feet. Her thought was to attack the ogre with the Fire Wave but then she realized her sword was at the feet of the ogre. Just as it was advancing on her it suddenly fell in half, dead. Yoshiko sighed in relief as Sesshomaru straightened up on the other side of the dead carcass. She hurried forward and scooped up her sword so she wouldn't have to look at him.

As she turned toward the shrine wondering how to break the barrier it suddenly disappeared. In shock her eyes went wide and she stood there with her sword held loosely at her side. Out of the shrine walked an old man, holding something in his hand held out in front of him slightly. He wore priest robes and was bowed over slightly. Yoshiko found herself pitying the poor human who probably in search of immortality asked a demon for help. Beside her Sesshomaru turned toward the old man, his sword dropping slightly. The priest chuckled.

"Do you wish not to fight an elderly man?" he croaked.

"Heh," laughed Yoshiko, lifting up her sword. "Do you really think I would care what you look like?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sesshomaru glance at her in surprise. But at the moment she didn't really care. All she wanted at the moment was destroy the demon and get the stone. By the strange glowing around the priest's hand apparently he was holding it. This would be a simple task. She narrowed her eyes and started to step forward to attack the old man. But the priest held up a hand and she suddenly felt that she couldn't move and dropped her sword.

"You should respect your elders, half-breed," growled the old man.

"Bastard," hissed Yoshiko.

"Watch your language," said the old man, snapping his fingers.

Suddenly dark light seemed to surround Yoshiko, swirling around her from her feet. Almost as if she was forced to, she looked down and felt her eyes open wide when she saw a large gapping hole. Angrily she looked back to see a smirk on the old man's face. In fact as she watched he straightened and his white hair darkened to a brownish black. Just as Sesshomaru started toward the priest, Yoshiko felt any restraint her up leave. In the shock she didn't have time to scream as she felt herself plunging into the darkness. Then suddenly she wasn't falling anymore.

Opening her eyes and tilting her head up she saw Sesshomaru holding her wrist, keeping her from falling. Again she found it odd how he could look worried but at the same time impassive. Behind him she could see the priest looming over him and gasped. She tried to say something but suddenly felt as if her voice was taken away from her. A sword appeared in the man's hand and he slashed at Sesshomaru's back. Little pain crossed his face but his grip loosened on Yoshiko's wrist and she felt herself slipping through the shadows, any sign of Sesshomaru fading.

* * *

Sueko sat down underneath a tree watching the Pokèmon game go by as Shippo played with her Gameboy but at the same time not really watching the action going on. Instead she was sitting there thinking about earlier when she had "walked" around with InuYasha. Something had gone on… what it was she really didn't know and she knew she should know and the fact that she didn't just really bugged her! Being with InuYasha earlier just left her feeling extremely bewildered and confundled with all these mixed up feelings inside that Sueko didn't even have a name for… she was just really confused! And why in God's name did she keep thinking 'He's cute!' whenever she looked at InuYasha!

"Hello?" said a voice above Sueko. She looked up almost tiredly from the Gameboy screen to see Sango smiling kindly in front of her.

"Um… hi…" said Sueko, unsure of how to respond for some reason.

"You looked alone," said Sango, sitting down next to Sueko.

"I did?" muttered Sueko.

Sango chuckled softly. "Well, there's that and then there's the fact that without Yoshiko I don't have many people to talk to… and there's only so much of a conversation I can have with Miroku before he decides that he should touch my butt."

"Did I miss something?" asked Sueko, raising her eyebrows.

"The fact that you didn't react to all the racket worried me, so I decided I should talk to you," said Sango, her smile widening slightly.

"Wow," said Sueko. 'I guess I _have_ been caught up in my feelings a bit too much…'

"So what _are_ you thinking about so deeply?" asked Sango.

"Uh…" How could she answer Sango's question when she didn't even know the answer herself!

"Well… I was thinking about… um…" mumbled Sueko, turning more and more red in the face.

"That was a really interesting thing to think about," said Sango teasingly.

"I don't really know what I'm thinking about!" cried Sueko. "It's just… uh… It's… I think… I really don't know!"

"Okay, okay, calm down…" said Sango, putting a hand on Sueko's shoulder caringly.

"It's just… when I was with… well…" 'I can't even say his name! What is wrong with me, dammit!'

"I think I get it," said Sango quietly.

"You do? Because I really, really, really-really-really DON'T!" cried Sueko.

Sango laughed a bit before saying, "Well… I don't really know how to put it…"

"Well, figure it out because I've been sitting in the snow for an hour and a half trying to figure it out on my own and my butt is totally frozen and I still don't know," said Sueko.

"Er… I think you might like him," said Sango awkwardly.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"You know… you're in love with him."

"Oh."

"That's it?" asked Sango, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, what else am I supposed to say?" asked Sueko, shrugging. "I guess I sort of already knew but at the same time didn't… you know what I mean?"

"Kinda…" said Sango, looking a bit confused.

"I guess I'm not that surprised," said Sueko, hugging her knees close to her chest and looking down at her feet. "I mean, Yoshiko kept saying I liked him even though I thought I didn't… I don't know, this is really confusing…"

"That's the point," said Sango. "Love is a confusing thing…"

"It's bad enough I have to go run around in the past killing a bunch of filthy overgrown bugs… now I have to worry about a complicated love life! What next?"

"At least he doesn't find you repulsive," said Sango. "And at least you don't have to deal with him going back and forth from you to some other girl like Kagome did."

"You know, I keep hearing about her but at the same time I know nothing about Kagome. Well, except for the obvious," said Sueko.

"Well… Um… She used a bow and arrow instead of a sword," said Sango. "And she was a reincarnation of somebody, not a protector of a shrine. And she and InuYasha started out trying to get the pieces of the Shikon Jewel together before any demons got a hold of it, because she had accidentally broke it before. And she was one of those people who could easily forgive you unless you were Naraku or something…"

"Ha! I can _so _never forgive people like that. Even if they did something really minor… I'm weird that way, I guess," said Sueko, shrugging and giving a small smile.

"I guess it's a good thing you don't have to deal with the Kikyo thing, then," said Sango.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Well, InuYasha and Kikyo fell in love a long time ago but then Naraku made it to where they thought they betrayed each other… fifty years later InuYasha's spell was broken so he was no longer bound to the tree and then Kikyo was revived because she had died before… and then once and a while InuYasha would leave Kagome for Kikyo…" said Sango. "But then eventually InuYasha finally choose Kagome over Kikyo and we didn't have to deal with that anymore…"

"How very complicated…" muttered Sueko.

"And then right after that Kagome sort of died… then you showed up! Wow, that's weird…" said Sango, laughing.

"Life is just so freakin' complicated!" Sueko cried out. "It makes you just want to go to bed and sleep your troubles away."

"At least you don't have to deal with a perverted monk!" said Sango, who shot a glare at Miroku suddenly. About twenty feet away Miroku looked up just in time to see the piercing look and when he saw it he smiled sheepishly back as InuYasha turned his head to roll his eyes.

Sueko laughed and patted Sango's shoulder. "You can have fun with that one!"

"Oh, thanks!" laughed Sango, trying to glare at Sueko.

* * *

When he felt Yoshiko slip out of his grip, he swung around and attacked the man but the priest was able to dodge the attack. A smirk crossed the man's face as Sesshomaru lashed out and grabbed the front of his robes.

"Where is she?" snapped Sesshomaru, shaking him.

"Somewhere," laughed the priest.

From his hand the stone started to glow forcing Sesshomaru to step back and let go of the man. Slowly the man grew larger, losing his human complexion and turning into a large scorpion. On it's tail Sesshomaru could see blue stone glowing slightly as it arched over the scorpions back, ready to attack. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as she stooped to pick up his sword. A hollow laugh came from the scorpion as it attacked with its tail. Easily Sesshomaru dodged the attack and cut off one of the legs.

"Do you really think that will stop me?" laughed the scorpion as the leg re-grew.

Sesshomaru simply blinked and smirked. As the scorpion came in for another attack he cut of the end of tail and then continued on to cut the demon in half. Suddenly the guise of the scorpion melted away, leaving the old man lying, covered in blood. Seeing the end of the fight, Sesshomaru put his sword away. Again he stooped, but this time he picked up the blue stone that had been giving the man his power. He looked at it in his hand for a while before putting it away. Then he turned toward the old man who was trying to get up. Again Sesshomaru took the priest by the front of the robes and pulled him to his feet.

"Now, where is she?" snapped Sesshomaru.

"Even if I told you, why would a demon care?" laughed the man, but it soon turned into a cough.

Sesshomaru's grip on the man tightened and he pulled him closer to his face.

"Answer me!"

The man just smiled as his eyes closed and finally died. In disgust Sesshomaru tossed his dead body aside, clenching his teeth in frustration. He then turned back around as if expecting to see Yoshiko standing where she had disappeared. When he found himself staring at an empty space he turned toward the shrine. He entered the dark space, trying to figure out where things were and where Yoshiko might be.

It didn't take too long for him to see and when he could all that he saw was a large empty room. As Sesshomaru walked farther in, looking from side to side, he felt his foot nudge something. In the middle of the floor was a trapdoor. Almost without thinking he kicked it open and jumped through. At the bottom was a long, cold, stone corridor leading away from the shrine.

Not too long later the corridor opened up into a smaller version of the shrine. This time, however, Yoshiko lay on the bare floor unmoving. As Sesshomaru moved to stand over her, Yoshiko's eyes opened slowly. After she had sat up, she turned to look up at Sesshomaru who automatically held out his hand to help her up. Despite her surprised expression, she took it and allowed herself to get pulled to her feet.

"Are you injured?" asked Sesshomaru, starting back down the corridor but watching her out of the corner of his eyes.

"No…" muttered Yoshiko in a way that made him think she hadn't even heard the question. "You did get the stone, right?"

"Of course," answered Sesshomaru.

When they reached the place where the trapdoor he realized there was no ladder to get back up. Yoshiko blinked and turned toward him questioningly. Without saying anything, Sesshomaru put his arm around her waist and jumped up, barely making it through the hole. When they reached the top Yoshiko pulled away quickly and turned away. Sesshomaru went striding past her acting like nothing had happened but at the same time feeling a bit disappointed. Outside he picked up Yoshiko's sword and handed it back to her. But she didn't take it.

"It doesn't seem right just leaving his dead body here," muttered Yoshiko, looking down at the old man.

"What do you expect to do with him?" growled Sesshomaru, shoving her sword into her hand.

"I don't know!" cried Yoshiko, sheathing her sword. "Least we could do is bury him. I mean, he was an old priest!"

"He doesn't deserve your pity," snapped Sesshomaru.

"And why not?" asked Yoshiko icily, glaring at him out of the corner of her eyes. "He was only human."

"The human part of him might have been dead for years, so what would the point be?" asked Sesshomaru trying to keep calm.

"And it could be that he only got possessed a few days ago," stated Yoshiko. "Either way it would put his soul to rest."

"Why should you care what happens to somebody after they die? They're dead, move on," said Sesshomaru, turning away.

Eyes narrowed, Yoshiko spun angrily at him. It seemed as if she was going to cry but at the same time her eyes were completely dry. Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows and turned back toward her.

"I was raised in a human environment so I believe in many things they do," said Yoshiko in a dangerous undertone. "In fact… demons by nature disgust me!"

Without waiting for his reaction, Yoshiko strode past him. Sesshomaru watched her disappear into the trees. In a trance he headed back to where they had left Rin. When he arrived he found Yoshiko grabbing her small bag starting off. Before she could get far Sesshomaru grabbed her arm and turned her back around.

"Will you leave me alone?" cried Yoshiko.

From behind him he heard Rin moan and slowly sit up. Almost at the same time, Yoshiko and Sesshomaru turned toward the girl. Rin blinked a couple of times before getting to her feet and walking forward hesitantly.

"Are you leaving all ready?" asked Rin. "You just got here. Don't you like being with us?"

"I…" stammered Yoshiko, stepping backwards and out of Sesshomaru's loose grip. "I don't know!" she cried before turning around running off.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked Rin. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

For a while Sesshomaru stared after Yoshiko thinking about following after her. But then he turned away and walked past Rin, pausing only to say, "Go back to sleep, Rin."

'It's probably best that she's gone,' thought Sesshomaru as Rin stared after him, her eyes flickering from his back to where Yoshiko had left.

* * *

Now that Sueko was off, preoccupied, InuYasha didn't have anything to do anymore. Plus Miroku wanted him to give advice on girls since apparently InuYasha was really good with girls. Until Shippo pointed out that if that was true Kagome wouldn't have been pissed at him all the time. After pummeling the little kitsune InuYasha stood up and left without a backwards glance.

It almost seemed like his feet were taking him wherever they wanted to. After a while he realized he was walking down the same path he and Sueko had. InuYasha sighed wishing that he could just put the girl out of his head for two seconds at least! No matter how different she was from Kagome he was still reminded of Kagome. At least thinking Kagome was Kikyo made sense. This… this made no sense. How could it be that he was able to fall in love so quickly after Kagome had died? Everything about Kagome made sense after he stopped to think about it but Sueko confused him no matter what.

'Maybe I should talk to Yoshiko about it again since she seems to know _everything_!' thought InuYasha.

Suddenly he thought he heard a rustle in the bushes to his side. He turned, realizing this to be the same place that Sueko thought she saw something. Having nothing better to do, InuYasha decided to investigate it. But just as he was about to step off the path and into the trees Sueko's voice jumped into his head:

"_You going to not get captured by a random demon this time? Or do anything stupid?"_

'Damn you, leave me alone!' InuYasha thought, striding purposefully into the trees.

As he walked InuYasha looked from side to side trying to figure out if there was something out here. Just when he was about to give up and go back to the others, he thought he heard somebody whispering his name. Though it was quiet and he could have imagined it, he decided to keep going. In fact as he went toward the voice calling his name it got louder. And the voice… it was familiar… but it couldn't be… He was definitely hearing things and should head back. Despite this thought InuYasha quickened his pace, almost running through the trees toward the voice and…

He came to a complete stop on the edge of a small clearing. In the middle was a log and on it sat… but it couldn't be. But she had the strange outfit with the white blouse and short green skirt. Also there was the same raven hair that InuYasha remembered so well. And then, when she turned toward him, those familiar chocolate brown eyes fixed upon him. InuYasha closed his eyes, willing the image to go away, but when he opened his eyes again she was still there. The sad look on her face caused InuYasha to be overwhelmed by his guilty feelings again.

'This can't be happening… I thought I was over this!' InuYasha reprimanded himself. But these thoughts obviously didn't reach the rest of him.

"K—Kagome…" he muttered.

A small smile flickered across the girl's face as she nodded. Then she stood up and started walking toward InuYasha. He looked her over, trying to figure out if this really was here and if so _how _it was possible. She had _died!_ He had been there, saw it, felt her cold face afterwards. But there she was, walking toward him, her eyes completely serious and… cold?

"What do you want?" asked InuYasha, trying to get her to stop coming toward him… try and make her leave. Or at least get his bearings.

"What else?" said Kagome softly, reaching out slowly toward him. "I want you, InuYasha. I _do_ love you."

If he had stopped to think about her words InuYasha would have found it strange that her last words didn't affect him at all. But he didn't have time because Kagome almost purposefully tripped and fell into InuYasha's arms. Immediately InuYasha swept her away, practically forcing her to fall backwards. But, unnatural to Kagome, she caught her balance easily and was able to stay on her feet. She held up her hand and seemed to inspect something. When she looked back at InuYasha she was glaring at him.

"I broke a nail, you idiot!" snapped Kagome.

"Yeah, you also have a rip up the side of your skirt and don't seem to care about that," said InuYasha, shrugging and looking away.

'This obviously isn't Kagome so why can't I just leave?' thought InuYasha.

"Least of all you can act like you're happy I'm here!" cried Kagome, fake tears welling up in her eyes.

'I would be… if you were Kagome!' thought InuYasha.

But despite this thought he turned around and grabbed Kagome by the arms, willing her to stop crying. No surprise at all crossed her face at this sudden movement. Her tears stopped immediately and she tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. She started to open her mouth to say something but InuYasha cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Kagome…" he said quietly. "I tried… I tried to save you but…"

"I guess… I understand," muttered Kagome.

'Wait… Kagome was always so forgiving,' thought InuYasha. Suddenly he found himself thinking about Sueko and how stubborn she was. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

In surprise of his own thoughts InuYasha let go of Kagome and take a step back. Suddenly her eyes flashed blue as she scowled. InuYasha blinked and started to turn to leave. Before he could so much as take one step Kagome had put a hand on his cheek and forced her lips on his. And at that exact moment InuYasha saw Sueko walk through the trees out of the corner of his eyes. Immediately he pushed Kagome away, but the damage was all ready done.

"Sueko, it's—" started InuYasha.

"_Bitch_," interrupted Kagome, getting to her feet and glaring at Sueko. "You weren't supposed to show up!"

"Shut up!" snapped InuYasha, turning toward her.

"Excuse me?" said Kagome, putting her hands on her hips. "Is that what you say to the girl you're supposed to love?"

He stopped, thinking over this. Again he went over in his head that this wasn't really Kagome. But at the same time he couldn't help but think of her as Kagome. He went over the word 'love' in his head, turning it over and over. But it no longer seemed to fit how he felt about Kagome.

"I did love Kagome…" muttered InuYasha.

At the same time an uncharacteristic smirk crossed Kagome's face, Sueko turned around and started running away.

"SUEKO!" cried InuYasha. Without another thought in his head he started running after her, pushing away Kagome's arm that tried to stop him.

For such a small girl she was running pretty fast, dodging the trees quickly and shoving stray tree branches out of the way as if she didn't care. He didn't need his dog-ears to hear her crying but he wished he didn't have to hear it at all. He kept calling her name even though he knew it was really rather pointless in the first place.

There was a point where InuYasha could tell Sueko was starting to get tired because she started to slow down… In an act of desperation InuYasha ran faster so he could grab her hand to stop her and try to explain.

"Sueko…" he moaned softly to her.

Sueko's eyes went wide in shock. He noticed guiltily that she had stopped crying—for the time being, he couldn't help thinking. But then suddenly her eyes narrowed and she gave InuYasha this very ugly and hurtful look as she jerked her hand away and turned around to run away again.

He actually wasn't going to follow her at first—what would be the point?—but then he decided he should because she wasn't going back to the others and he didn't want to get herself killed or something. Once the trees started to disappear and the two appeared in an open space InuYasha stopped running and just stood frozen to the ground as he watched Sueko stop at the well, pick up her book bag and go into it, going back to her timeframe.

"Figures…" muttered InuYasha, turning away from the Bone Eaters well. He could have followed her… but he didn't see how it'd do any good.

* * *

Oooh, a cliffy! Okay, not really, but whatever. I was never good with cliffy but _InuYasha_ _so_ needs a cliffy so I wrote one. Sorta. Actually, I just needed to split the chapter because it was getting pretty long. Well, with everything else it was. So you'll just have to suffer until I write more. But hey, if you've got cable you can watch the _real_ show on adultswim. But I think our fan fic is better because it doesn't have Kagome. :D


	20. Going Our Seperate Ways

**AUTHOR'S NOTES/DISCLAIMER**  
Okay, I'm just really lazy and I'm just skipping straight to the disclaimer crap. Besides, you probably think all my babbling in the beginning is incredibly lame, but I _do_ have a lot of disclaiming to do, anyways. 

You already know by now that all we own is our own characters and the plot of this story. But any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi we _do not_ own so please don't waste your time suing us… besides, we'd obviously win the case anyways, so it'd be rather pointless. _However_,during this post plenty of anime titles were mentioned, and I DON'T OWN THEM! So here's the list of all the crap in this chapter that Kayhera nor Ravyn own:

**Rurouni Kenshin:** Hmm… I don't exactly know _who_ owns this, I just know I don't! I've watched about thirty episodes like two years ago, so any information about this that is wrong is not really my fault!

**Wolf's Rain:** I think Bandai owns this… Only seen the first five episodes, and I think I saw the last episode too because everyone died in it… but the only parts of Wolf's Rain that were mentioned occurred in the first five episodes so I'm pretty sure whatever I mentioned was accurate!

**Big O:** I have no clue who owns this! I have never seen this anime. All I know is from the commercials: something about robots. And the character in this fan fic who likes this show likes robots, so I think I'm okay with that…

**Full Metal Alchemist:** BIG fan of this! I've watched every episode shown so far on adult swim, so if you think I'm _not accurate_ with this than you just suck! (okay, kidding, but you know what I mean…). And, sadly, I don't know who made this…

**Cowboy Bebop:** Watched a few episodes. It seems like something the character who mentions it would like, so whatever. I didn't really say a whole lot on the subject… And I don't know who owns it!

**Slayers:** I only added this in because I couldn't think of anything and was at the time IMing Ravyn… and she said I could mention _Slayers_ (because I was having two of the characters talk about anime… notice how I'm not saying who is saying who in this whole entire disclaimer! _Gasps!_). Anyways, I've never watched it, so any incorrect information is all Ravyn's fault! Blame her! _Points accusing finger at Ravyn as she crosses her arms and sticks her tongue out, then marries Sesshomaru because I'm in a really random mood._ And I just asked Ravyn who owns it (I'm on the phone with her at the moment! I talk to her a lot…) and she doesn't know who owns _Slayers_.

**Read or Die:** Okay, there's a movie version of this that played on adult swim, and then there's a TV show version on this really weird channel that I have that really has nothing to do with the movie (as far as I can tell. I've watched both, by the way. Movie version waaaaaaay better. Go Yumiko!). They only play like six episodes of the freakin' show of the weird "gamers" channel I watch the TV series version on and then suddenly stop… then in a month play the TV show again for another six episodes. So I don't really understand the TV show that much because it's really confusing and once I start to figure it out it all of a sudden changes, but whatever. However, only the title was mentioned, so I'm okay with accuracy. And I _think_ the same people who made _Full Metal Alchemist _made this but I really am not sure…

**Chobits:** This anime is totally awesome! If you haven't watched the TV show or read the manga do so because it's so freakin' awesome! Well, I've only read the first, second, and fourth manga (my friend didn't have the third one) and Ravyn's only read those too because I let her borrow them… Anyways, it was only mentioned once but the character that _does_ mention it really, really likes it. It's like their favorite anime. Then Rurouni Kenshin. And _Clamp_ wrote the manga, if you care and all.

**Love Hina:** I own manga one through five and own the _Love Hina Spring Break_ movie… I know quite a lot about this anime, which is why it was the one anime that was discussed the most. So if I'm inaccurate then… well, let's just say I wasn't and move on with our lives, k? Anyways, Ken Akamatsu wrote the manga and Bandai made the anime.

**InuYasha:** Okay, this wasn't mentioned, but I'd just like to say I own manga one through eleven (and share it with Ravyn) and the second movie, and I'm proud of it! So there! Though I really want the third movie because apparently you get to learn about InuYasha and Sesshomaru's daddy and they haven't released it in the US yet…

Hmm….. What to talk about now? I don't want to stop writing the disclaimer! It was fun!But it's not like I have anything to talk about… _sigh_… oh, whatever, just read and reply! And have a good day!

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Going Our Separate Ways**

It took all of her strength to climb up the sides of the well but Sueko couldn't understand why she felt so weak. As soon as she managed to get back to the solid ground of the shrine she ran over to the door, throwing it open and then turning around to slam them shut again.

She stood there for a moment, staring at the shrine with its closed doors. It suddenly looked like such a gloomy place even though before it had been so inviting. Sueko felt as though she had left something unfinished and because she couldn't think of what it was she decided to take her sword out and put it through the handles of the shrine door so no one could open it from the inside. Glancing at her sword trapping the shrine Sueko felt tears well up in her eyes again and she was all of sudden so overcome with grief she had to sit down.

'I find out I love him only to find out he doesn't love me at all!' Sueko thought to herself. But then a little voice inside of her head went, '…but he _did_ follow you…'

'So!' Sueko thought to the voice in her head. 'He was… _kissing_ her…'

'But he pushed her away right after…'

'…I showed up! He was going along with it all right, and then he stopped because he didn't want to hurt my feelings… or something like that… It's Kagome! He was in love with her and he still is!'

'I can't stay out here all night… but at the same time I don't want to go home. I'm so used to Feudal Japan I'd rather be there but then _he's_ there…'

Suddenly Sueko stood up and tried to clean off her face the best she could with her sleeve and picked out her book bag. She didn't want to go home and she obviously couldn't go back to Feudal Japan so how about she just went over to Tamika's? Okay, so it would be extremely weird and sort of rude to just show up suddenly but she really needed to be with a friend… besides, Tamika just walked over to her house uninvited last time!

The only problem was that Sueko wasn't sure there was any sort of transportation running at about two o'clock in the morning… and no one would be awake at Tamika's…

"I've walked around Feudal Japan for five months. I think I can manage walking around modern day Tokyo," Sueko muttered to herself as she put her book bag on and started walking away from the shrine.

* * *

Tamika sat on the living room sofa with the television volume down to as low as it could go with her still able to hear it, flipping through the channels boredly.

"Nope… nope… what a boring show! Nah… oh, I like that show! The credits? Damn you! Nope… I wonder if Keitaro's still on the Internet… Nope… Dad likes that show. Too bad he's at work…"

There was a knock on the door that make Tamika jump up—both in surprise and excitement.

"Company! Wait, it's three in the morning… oh well!" she cried, who leaped up from the sofa and rushed over to the door. She was in pajamas that were way too small and her hair was messy like she had slept in it even though she hadn't and it wasn't even up in a pony-tail like it always was but Tamika didn't worry about her appearance at all as she opened the door to see who it was. Seeing the figure at the door she ran over to hug them, crying, "Oh, I missed you SO much! Wait, it's the middle of the night…. Oh well! How was Feudal Japan or whatever it's called? Did you kill another demon?" Letting go of Sueko and seeing the expression on her face, Tamika frowned and went, "Uh… I take it you didn't have fun there, did you?"

"I didn't want to go home so I went here. Hope you don't mind," muttered Sueko, looking down at the ground and closing the door behind her without looking at it.

"What's wrong, Sueko?" asked Tamika, grabbing Sueko's hand tightly and putting her face close to Sueko's with her eyes looking extremely serious and wide.

Sueko raised her eyebrows. "Tamika, are you okay?"

"I'm just fine!" said Tamika, letting go of Sueko's hand to put her hands together and grin. "Thanks for asking! But you're not!"

It was then that a door opened and Tamika turned around to find Keitaro standing there with a large white tee shirt that looked extremely worn and blue plaid boxer shorts. He was scratching his head in confusion, messing up his already messy hair. And he was also wearing glasses, which he never wore.

"Sueko, what are you doing in my house at three o'clock in the morning!" Keitaro cried out, walking over to where Tamika and Sueko were standing with both hands on his hips.

"Why are you wearing glasses…" muttered Sueko.

"I took my contacts out…" muttered Keitaro back. Then he asked again, loudly, "What are you doing in MY house!"

"This is an apartment, not a house," said Tamika. "And it's dad's apartment, not yours."

"I look like I care, Tamika," said Keitaro, rolling his eyes. "What are you doing here!"

"I didn't want to go home…" mumbled Sueko.

"Okay… _why_!"

"Um…"

"You idiot!" cried Tamika, hitting Keitaro on the head. "You really have no respect for other peoples feelings, you know that!"

"What?" said Keitaro, looking bewildered. But then he turned his head to Sueko again and his eyebrows went up as his brain suddenly figured out that Sueko wasn't happy.

"It was that stupid dog boy, wasn't it?" muttered Keitaro, crossing his arms crankily. "I really wouldn't be surprised if that jerk did—"

He stopped talking as Sueko's eyes started to well up with tears and she flung herself to the one person standing in front of her… which just happened to be Keitaro.

Tamika glared at Keitaro and mouthed, "Comfort her, you bastard!" so Keitaro patted Sueko's back awkwardly.

"He likes some other girl instead of me!" Sueko shouted through her tears.

Tamika waved her hands forward as if to prompt Keitaro to do something but he had no clue what to do or say.

"Um… Tamika kept going on about this movie she wanted to see. Want to see it with us tomorrow?" Keitaro asked because he couldn't think of anything else to say that was kind enough.

"Okay…" said Sueko quietly. It sounded like she had stopped crying now and was just sniffling. She let go of Keitaro to wipe the tears from her eyes. Tamika leaped over to the coffee table and grabbed a box to tissues for Sueko.

"I was watching this really sad movie…" Tamika said to Keitaro as Sueko blew her nose.

"Did someone die in it?" Keitaro asked.

"Not really. It was actually a comedy… but the ending was just so happy!"

"I'll never understand you…" said Keitaro, shaking his head sadly at her.

"You don't mind if I stay here?" Sueko asked.

"Nope," said Keitaro, shrugging off-handedly.

When Tamika jumped up and put her hands together excitedly he groaned. "We should have a party! I could make junk food, we could stay up late watching movies, and have a sleep over! We could have makeovers and everything!"

"I'll be in my room…" Keitaro muttered, who started to turn and walk away.

"Oh no you don't!" cried Sueko, grabbing his arm.

"We need s'mores!" said Tamika suddenly, who ran straight to the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

"I have extremely weird friends," said Sueko, scratching her head.

"I'm the normal one," said Keitaro, crossing his arms.

"Yeah… a computer geek is normal…" said Sueko.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that…" said Keitaro.

"You do that," said Sueko, who finally set down her book bag next to the sofa and walked into the kitchen to see if she could help Tamika (though she couldn't really cook that well so she'd probably just be in the way…. But whatever!).

* * *

The rest of the night had been long and uneventful. Surprisingly enough Yoshiko didn't think about much of anything. In fact she spent most of her time after leaving Sesshomaru walking around aimlessly. Her feet just carried through the woods to no place in particular. Finally she seemed to notice her surroundings and saw the splash of colors as the sun started to rise. She sighed and sat down, taking out some food from her bag and nibbling at it. It wasn't really that she was hungry but she was tired of walking and needed an excuse to stop.

But sitting there left too much time for thought, practically forcing her to recall the events of last night. The most awkward thought was when Sesshomaru had to carry her out of the shrine. Yoshiko shook her head, trying to clear her head of the thought. But at the same time she felt her cheeks go red at the memory. Sighing, she stuffed away the leftover food, got to her feet and started walking again.

Almost without realizing it though, she showed up at the place where she had known the others to be. She had been trying to avoid it though… not wanting to have to see anybody. But as soon as she appeared at the edge of the trees, Sango jumped to her feet looking right at her. There was no way she would be able to just turn around and leave now. So readying herself for Sueko's wrath, Yoshiko strode over. When she had reached the hut she soon noticed that someone was missing. In fact, that someone happened to be Sueko.

'At least I won't have to face her,' thought Yoshiko, dropping her stuff in a pile by the wall of the hut.

As she stood there she realized something else: everybody was quiet. A bit too quiet even. In fact InuYasha almost looked like how Yoshiko felt, so something big must have happened while she was gone. But she didn't want to ask because that would be a bit rude. Of course she was too tired to really think of nicer way to try and get somebody to say something. So she grabbed InuYasha by the arm and dragged him over to the edge of the trees.

"What happened?" sighed Yoshiko, not looking at him.

She expected him to come up with some sort of smart-ass remark. But he didn't say anything. He said _nothing_ at all, which just worried Yoshiko. She turned toward him and hit him on the head.

"Okay, I'm impatient today so will you just answer me!" snapped Yoshiko.

Still InuYasha didn't say anything, but crossed his arms and turned away. Yoshiko moaned and started hitting her head on the nearest tree. As if out annoyance, InuYasha grabbed the back of her robes and pulled her away from the tree.

"Maybe you say what's up with you first!" said InuYasha, his voice almost indifferent.

"What's there to say?" muttered Yoshiko, pushing InuYasha's hand away. "Me and Sesshomaru got into this silly argument about human traditions."

"What do you mean?" asked InuYasha, sitting down with his back to a tree.

"I don't know myself! Everything just went by so quickly I hardly even remember how it started," cried Yoshiko, balling her hands into fists. "I was being an idiot anyways to think he would even care that the other half me is human! Besides, you're avoiding my question!"

"Yeah," shrugged InuYasha.

"Well, stop it!" snapped Yoshiko, putting her fists on her hips. "I want to know why Sueko isn't here and now!"

"She went home," said InuYasha. "What did you expect?"

"But she normally doesn't go home unless she's upset!" snapped Yoshiko. "Now spill! What did you do this time? I don't have time to be any nicer about it!"

"You're not going to let me get away without saying anything, are you?" sighed InuYasha.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't like it when people keep information from me!" snapped Yoshiko.

"You can't even be nice when you're apologizing," laughed InuYasha sadly.

"Do I need to say I'm sorry again?" muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms.

"Don't waste our time," muttered InuYasha.

"Fine. Talk," said Yoshiko, sitting down.

"This girl that looked like Kagome but wasn't showed up and Sueko walked in on her kissing me," said InuYasha tonelessly acting like he was talking about someone other than himself.

"Fun…" muttered Yoshiko. "And of course she thought _you_ were kissing… who's Kagome?"

"Can we not get into that?" sighed InuYasha.

"Sorry," said Yoshiko, putting a comforting arm around his shoulder. "Last night was just wasn't a good night for any of us."

"Feh," said InuYasha getting back to his feet and walking away.

Yoshiko blinked in confusion, staying where InuYasha had left her. Finally she shook her head sadly and walked back to the hut. Sango looked up immediately as if to measure Yoshiko's reaction to what InuYasha had told her. What she saw instead was Yoshiko grabbing her stuff and starting off again.

"Where are you going?" cried Sango, running after her.

"Somewhere other than here," said Yoshiko. "I'm not going to deal with a depressed InuYasha. This messed up love situation they have to fix their selves!"

"Oh, so you butt in and then just butt yourself out?" snapped Sango.

"Well, I know nothing about Kagome so I wouldn't be much help," sighed Yoshiko, smiling slightly. "Besides, I won't always be there to solve everybody's problems so they can deal with it!"

"Maybe you shouldn't be trying to solve anybody's problems except your own," muttered Sango.

"You were listening!" cried Yoshiko, but not in a mad way which surprised her.

"I admit that I butt in for a little…" said Sango, smiling. "Now I am not going to let you go off and leave me here with a depressed InuYasha!"

"Fine. I'm not going to wait up for you though," laughed Yoshiko, watching as Sango went running back to the hut to grab her own stuff.

'It'll be a bit nice to travel with someone else…' thought Yoshiko, smiling to herself.

* * *

Sueko sighed, sitting up on the Hamasaki's living room sofa she had been sleeping on that night. Well, had been _trying_ to… Sueko couldn't bear to close her eyes, for every time she did she remembered InuYasha and Kagome… _kissing_…

She didn't care that he never really did like her in that way or the fact that she had just realized she liked him that way in the first place—it still hurt! And how in the hell is it possible for him to go doing _that_ with Kagome when she was _dead_! What, did he bring her back from the dead or something? Talk about extremely gross, doing that sort of thing with a dead girl…

Ugh… why'd she have to find out she was in love with the guy when it was too late to do anything about it! 'If only I wasn't so stupid… I could have been the girl he was kissing…'

A sudden crashing noise and a male voice saying very inappropriate words as he cried out in pain stopped Sueko's train of thought as she jumped up and nearly fell off the couch. She turned around to see Keitaro stumbling out of the hallway muttered swear words as he hopped on one foot, inspecting the other what-appeared-to-be-injured one.

Sueko raised her eyebrows. "What did you do?"

Keitaro looked up. "I stubbed my toe—stupid bookshelf… Wait, why are you up? Did I wake you?"

"No, no… I was just thinking…" said Sueko.

"Oh," said Keitaro, putting his foot back down on the ground and just standing there.

The two didn't say much of anything—Sueko wondered why Keitaro was out of his room at four in the morning… so to break the silence she asked just that.

"Uh… because it's Friday so I stay up all night to catch up on online stuff that I've missed during the week thanks to the homework load at school," said Keitaro simply.

"I thought you liked homework," said Sueko.

"I do."

Sueko blinked a few times. "Whatever… aren't you going to do something?"

"Huh?" said Keitaro, scratching his head. "Oh! Um, I forgot what I was going to do… my bookshelf is really, very, extremely evil…"

"Uh huh," said Sueko. She wanted to say something else but couldn't think of anything to say.

Keitaro cleared his throat awkwardly, ending the odd silence that had lingered after Sueko's last words. "Erm… well, I don't exactly remember why I'm out here so how about I just go…"

"Wait!" cried Sueko, leaning on the arm of the couch. "Don't go!"

"Uh…" said Keitaro, blinking.

"I'm sorry…" muttered Sueko. "It's just… I guess I'd just like some company right now…" 'So I can stop thinking these really annoying, depressing thoughts!'

"Oh… okay," mumbled Keitaro. Sueko might have been imaging it but Keitaro looked extremely awkward…

Whether he was awkward or not Sueko sat up on the sofa and moved the blanket away, making it to where Keitaro would have been comfortable to sit there, and when he wasn't getting the impression that she was letting him sit on the couch ('Typical guy…') Sueko started pointing to the empty spot and Keitaro's eyebrows went up as he got the impression. He sat down and Sueko got this really random thought that he didn't look that bad with his glasses on… in fact, he looked just as good with them on as he did without… 'What a weird, weird thought!'

"So… _um…_ anything new happen while I was gone?" Sueko asked, not sure of what to say but wanting to say something.

"Uh… well, we started a new unit in History," said Keitaro.

"Er… okay…"

"We're learning about the Meiji Restoration, which is the start of Westernization, which is the adaptation of western ideas. The Meiji Restoration was also the start of—"

"I know, Keitaro," said Sueko, trying not to laugh. "I've watched _Rurouni Kenshin _before!" When Keitaro just looked at her blankly she added, "What, you don't watch anime? You seem like the anime type…"

"Um… See, I'm on the computer. And Tamika uses the TV. So if I'm not on the computer I watch TV… but Tamika has it. And anime usually confuses her, except for _Wolfs Rain_ or_ Big O_, which I don't really like…" explained Keitaro.

"And the DVD's all over your room would be _what_, exactly?" asked Sueko with her eyebrows raised.

"That'd be anime. But _good_ anime," said Keitaro. "Like _Full Metal Alchemist_ and _Cowboy Bebop_…"

"What about _Slayers_? And _Read or Die_? And _Chobits_?" cried Sueko. "Besides, wouldn't you like _Love Hina_? The main character has the same name as you do!"

"Sorry, watching an anime with a bunch of naked chicks with no storyline or real plot bores me," said Keitaro.

"It has a plot! Keitaro and Naru work hard together to get into Tokyo U because they made a promise they'd go there someday! Plus Seta's kinda hot…" said Sueko.

"So's Motoko, but I don't watch the show because of her," said Keitaro boredly.

"Um… Keitaro? Doesn't your sister look like Motoko?" said Sueko tonelessly.

"Huh? No she doesn't!" But then Keitaro paused and looked as though he was thinking, and then suddenly his cheeks turned a bit red as he muttered, "I never did like _Love Hina_…"

"You know what?" said Sueko suddenly. "My life is so freakin' dramatic. I'm a protector for some Spiritual Shrine and I always have to go fight demons… and I'm friends with a half tiger demon, a perverted monk, a demon slayer and a kitsune… My life could so be an anime show, except they'd have to draw me taller and with bigger boobs… and better hair. My hair is extremely messy at times…"

Keitaro laughed. "Your hair is just fine. And besides, isn't the girl from _Slayers_ really short? What's her name? Ina… Verse… y… something…"

"Lina Inverse!" cried Sueko, turning a bit pink in the face. After all, Lina was her favorite character because she was kinda short… like her!

"Yeah, her…" said Keitaro, scratching the back of his head.

There was a pause as the two just sort of started thinking for a little bit, but it was broken by Sueko, who started laughing.

"What?" asked Keitaro.

"Oh my God…" Sueko paused for breath. "Keitaro, you were actually wrong about something!"

"Huh?" said Keitaro. "Oh… Well, that's only because I've only watched a few episodes of _Slayers_… I mean, Darien's swords pretty wicked and all, but other then that the show doesn't make sense… Okay, it does, but it's so scientifically incorrect! Like, who can make a fireball just by holding out their hands and chanting a few words? I mean, _Full Metal Alchemist_ is a bit off with it's facts but alchemy makes more sense then random fireballs coming out of people's hands!"

Sueko giggled. "You can make up an excuse for anything, can't you?"

"Actually, that wasn't an excuse, that was an—"

"Rise and shine!" cried an extremely cheerful voice behind the sofa. Keitaro and Sueko jerked their heads around to find Tamika standing there with a big grin on her face. In seeing them facing her, she gave a cute little wave and said, "I didn't know you got up this early, Sueko!"

"No, I just couldn't sleep," said Sueko bitterly. Not at Tamika but at the thought of _why_ she couldn't sleep. She noticed that Tamika was fully dressed with her hair all nice like she had already taken a shower and blown dried her hair and decorated it… and she was even wearing make up and this nice outfit (Okay, just mascara, blush, and lip gloss… and she was wearing a simple yet fancy looking blue skirt with butterflies on it and a blue tank top with a sweater to go with because it was still January… a _blue_ sweater.

"Well, if everyone's awake then I'll go make pancakes!" said Tamika cheerfully, who gave a wave good-bye as she rushed into the kitchen.

"The insanity I'm surrounded by both day and night," muttered Keitaro, shaking his head.

"Oh, don't be mean! I've always wanted a little sister," said Sueko thoughtfully. "Being an only child is cool and all but you don't have anyone to play with."

Keitaro laughed. "One day you'll get a little sister and regret it!"

"I suppose I would," said Sueko. "Seeing how if I _did_ get a little sister they'd be a baby and I'd have to change their diaper and stuff…"

Keitaro just laughed again and shook his head as Sueko asked, "What? What's so funny!"


	21. The Fragrance of That Orange Flower

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Okay, the last post was really short, and I forgot that it was that short, so to make up for it I'm posting this too along with it. (Okay, so it took about three days… shut up!) It's actually a pretty long chapter… but a lot needed to happen. Not that much happens… Except for you get to meet a new character. Go new character! It's sorta Ravyn's character though, not mine… but wait, I just remembered you get to meet another character… which was mine… Though he reminds me so much of Sirius (a character in Harry Potter) that I have to worry. Actually, he's _worse_ than Sirius, even worse than Miroku! 

Now hopefully you understand how worried I am.

NOTE: Tora means tiger in Japanese. And I'm mentioning this because it's actually somewhat important to the fan fic (well, not the fact that tora means tiger, but the word tora). I mean, I know sometimes I'm random, but not _that_ random!

**DISCLAIMER**  
Hmm… if you haven't seen any of this on the TV show or manga chances are we own it! Wow, that was _so_ freakin' hard to figure out! Aren't you so glad I explained that difficult-to-figure-out-information to you? Oh, and if anything like anime or something was mentioned you should know that we don't own that either! Now read the fan fic!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: The Fragrance of That Orange Flower**

The village was small and Yoshiko wasn't sure if she had ever seen it before. But it was in such a close proximity to her old village and the Earth Shrine it wouldn't make sense not to have been there before… She shrugged it off and followed Sango down the hill toward it. As they were walking down the road toward the inn this young women with wavy black hair walked up to Yoshiko. She seemed timid and shy, not looking at her but down at her feet. For a while she just stood there without saying anything. Just when Yoshiko was about to leave she looked up.

"Your name wouldn't be, by chance, Yoshiko…" muttered the girl.

"Uh…" said Yoshiko, completely bewildered. "I think so…"

"How would you know her name?" asked Sango kindly.

At this moment the girl's cheeks went pink and she put her hands on them to try and cover them. Her eyes became glassy as she remembered something that happened long ago. She sighed before saying anything.

"A young healer by the name of Godric told me about this sister who was a tiger demon and I thought when I saw you that maybe you were this sister," said the girl airily.

"You're kidding, right?" said Yoshiko monotonously.

Suddenly the girl's eyes became serious and her face angry. She put her hands on her hips and leaned in toward Yoshiko.

"Why would I kid about something like this?" she snapped.

"What's your name?" asked Yoshiko, avoiding the question.

"Utako…" muttered the girl.

"Well Utako, Godric isn't your type," said Yoshiko, turning away and walking toward the inn.

"Wh—what? Hey! Wait up!" cried Utako.

"Go home!" called Yoshiko over her shoulder.

"But… but… I don't have a home!" shouted Utako, having trouble keeping up with Yoshiko since she was a pretty poor runner. "Not since Godric died anyways…"

Sighing, Yoshiko stopped and turned around. Utako had to stop suddenly and almost fell over. But Yoshiko was kind enough to grab her arm to steady her.

"Godric has been dead for an entire year. Don't tell me you've been homeless for _that_ long!" said Yoshiko.

"Well… um…" stammered Utako. "I've been looking for _you_ for this last year…"

"That's a good waste of time," said Yoshiko. "One, I'm half demon so you would have a hard time tracking me down. Two, I didn't want to be found. And finally what would be the point of finding me?"

"I would have a home again?" shrugged Utako. "I don't know, I just heard so much about you from Godric I guess I just wanted to meet you…"

"I think that's fair enough," said Sango. "Now I'm starting to get hungry, so can we move this inside?"

Yoshiko shrugged and started walking inside the Inn. Upon entering Utako ran passed her eagerly and started reserving and paying for their room. Without complaining Sango followed Utako to their room, but Yoshiko staid in the doorway of the Inn shaking her head. This girl was trying way too hard to impress her! Only Godric would have been patient enough to deal with her. And yet he wouldn't have even dealt with her if there hadn't been a good reason. Also he would have had to really trust Utako to tell her anything about Yoshiko. But the last thought encouraged Yoshiko to give the girl a chance.

* * *

Hanging out at Tamika and Keitaro's house for the weekend had been fun and all but Sueko couldn't live there. She'd have to go home _sometime_… besides, she had left most of her clean clothes and her uniform there and come Monday she'd have nothing to wear to school.

So after "borrowing" Keitaro's _Rurouni Kenshin_ DVD's (She'd give them back! The bummer about being in Feudal Japan was that Sueko missed out on TV…) and saying good-bye to Tamika a million times Sueko headed home, only to be licked to death by her cat and hugged to death by her mom.

"I didn't know you were coming home!" cried her mom cheerfully. "If I did I'd clean the house more…"

"Mom, you clean too much," said Sueko, running upstairs to drop her book bag in her room. Upon entering it she realized that all the furniture had been rearranged…

"It bugged me that it was so empty so I, um… redecorated a bit," said her mom behind her when Sueko hesitated at the door.

"Oh. That's okay… now I can call it _my _room, and not Kagome's," said Sueko, dropping the book bag at the foot of her bed and sitting down on it. Seeing her mother's reprimand look Sueko added, "Oh, you know what I mean, mom! I'm not speaking ill of the dead or anything… it's just more me, that's all."

"That's okay… Dinner will be ready in an hour, okay?" said her mom.

"Okay," answered Sueko back as her mom closed the door and went back downstairs. Being alone, the small conversation she had just had with her mother echoed through her head…

"_Oh. That's okay… now I can call it _my_ room, and not Kagome's."_

'Kagome… it's her fault I'm back in my time and not with the others…' Sueko thought bitterly to herself. 'Or maybe it wasn't _quite_ Kagome… maybe it was the same demon that tried to impersonate Sesshomaru and Yoshiko…'

Looking around the room, Sueko noticed that her desk was right up against the window, just the way she liked it. It was always nice to be able to look up from whatever you were working on, whether it was homework or drawing, on her desk and see the beautiful scenery outside. Well, the scenery wasn't always pleasant, but just outside her window was this really big, pretty tree and the shrine…

The shrine… with the desk right against the window like that it'd be pretty difficult for InuYasha to come through via the window.

'Like he'd ever _want_ to do _that_,' thought Sueko moodily, turning away from the window.

Sueko sighed. She couldn't help thinking that she would sort of _like_ him to show up right now at her window… but would she truly appreciate it when it happened or would she just make him go away?

'Why should I? He choose Kagome over _me_! And I'm actually _alive_!'

'Yeah, but does he even like you in that way? And does he even know _you_ like him in that way?' another part of Sueko asked.

'Haven't I been through this already? He—doesn't—like—me!' Sueko thought, growing frustrated with herself.

Sighing, Sueko got up from her bed and started digging around in her book bag. 'If anything's going to get my mind of InuYasha it's going to be Kenshin with his shirt off! Okay, what episode was that in…'

* * *

It seemed so hard to get to sleep that night. In fact Yoshiko doubted that she ever even closed her eyes. She just sat there, unaware of her surrounding and unconsciously watching Utako. The girl was a live wire, running around the room cleaning this here, moving this to look better and never stopping to breathe. Finally Sango was able to get her to sit still long enough that exhaustion took over the girl and she fell asleep. Not too long after that Sango went to sleep herself, leaving Yoshiko alone with her thoughts. And as it had been until recently her thoughts wandered to her brother.

"_Hey sis," said Godric, straightening up and turning toward Yoshiko._

_When she had been younger she had kept her hair at a shorter length to keep it out of her eyes. Back then it was said her eyes sparkled like emeralds and were wide, untouched by any hurt. Though Godric was only six years old he still looked and acted older than his ten-year-old sister. His hair was short and a dark brown and his eyes a nice gray that he had gotten from their father._

_When he walked over to Yoshiko, he held out a small orange flower that looked out of place. Gingerly the half tiger demon took it and smiled at her brother. When she kept it Godric smiled, turned around and started running off. Yoshiko shook her head at her brother's strange antics but followed after him. As they got closer to the village she started to notice that they weren't alone._

_Suddenly, out in front, Godric tripped and cried out in surprise. Yoshiko hurried forward and found her little brother sitting holding his scraped knee. She started to kneel down to look at it but Godric shook his head. He was obviously close to tears and didn't want his sister to know this. But she wouldn't have had time to help him anyways because suddenly some of the villagers started throwing rocks. Most of them were aimed at Yoshiko but villager boys were never good aims and some hit Godric as well._

"_Let me guess, freak! You pushed him down!" cried one of the boys, most likely their leader since he was the smallest and had the richest father._

"_She did not!" snapped Godric, getting to his feet and putting his arms over his head to protect it from rocks._

_Yoshiko didn't waste her time with fighting or blocking the rocks. Instead she took Godric's hand and started on home. For a while the boys followed behind but when they figured out that it wasn't irritating her, they gave up. But Yoshiko didn't relent her fast pace or let go of her brother's hand. It was one of the few times where Godric was able to see her eyes hardened, how they would be for the other half of her life. Trying to comfort her, Godric hugged her arm the best he could. Subconsciously Yoshiko patted him on the head with her other hand._

_When they had reached their house the sun was starting to set. Inside they both heard somebody collapse. Godric unattached himself from Yoshiko's arm and ran inside. Slowly Yoshiko followed, standing in the doorway watching as her little brother knelt down beside his fallen mother. She found it strange watching him as he shook and shook the woman, crying out her name over and over. Not only did it seem unrealistic for her brother to be so desperate she felt like she watching it from another's eyes. Finally her brother seemed to calm down and he stood up, wiping away a few stray tears._

"_Go get a doctor!" he said to Yoshiko, who almost jumped in the doorway._

_Yoshiko nodded slightly, turned around and started running back into the heart of the village. At the moment their father was off with Takeno and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Hopefully by then his wife would be back on her feet and they would have no need to worry him. In the meantime she needed to find the village healer. He wasn't really the best in the world and Yoshiko knew he was way too old. But if she so much as moved wrong in his presence someone would beat her. Maybe for once he would listen to her… and actually help someone. Just as she was about to give up hope she heard his voice coming from a nearby hut and burst in._

"_Child!" said the old man, getting to his feet. "It's awfully rude of you to just come into someone's house!"_

"_I heard your voice… and…" panted Yoshiko._

_Suddenly somebody hit her over the head with a club. She fell to the ground in surprise. Quickly she jerked up onto her knees to look at the shocked healer. Again somebody hit her with the club, and she could see them lift it up, ready to hit her again. When it came down, she grabbed the club and turned back to the old man. She could feel blood welling out of a bump on her head but had too many of them to really care._

"_Please, help!" she croaked._

_She felt the person try to wrench the club out of her grip. In retaliation she clenched tighter, breaking the club in half. Everybody gasped and she heard the man cry out in fear and fall backwards. She turned to him to make him see she was okay, but he whimpered and started crawling away backwards._

"_Please, don't hurt me!" he cried, finding himself in a corner. Yoshiko blinked in confusion, but knew she didn't have time to waste on him._

"_Godric's mother! She fell down and isn't getting up," gasped Yoshiko._

_Without a word, the healer grabbed his stuff and strode out of the house. Though Yoshiko was not in good favor with the rest of the town, her father, stepmother and brother were well respected. She gingerly got to her feet and started after the old man. But suddenly an arm reached out and blocked her way. Turning her head slightly she recognized the man as the town leader. Though he didn't look old at this moment in time she knew that soon his years would catch up with him._

"_My son says that you chased him down in the forest," he growled._

_Yoshiko's mind went back to when the boys had thrown rocks at her and Godric. But if she said this to the leader he would deny it and tell her she was making up lies. So instead she quickly ducked under his arm and started running to a place where nobody but her father would be able to find her. She headed straight toward the Earth Shrine. Apparently in the past it use to have a shield that protected it from demons. Now she and her father protected it, leaving up a barrier when they were not anywhere near it._

_Inside she sat in a corner and pulled her knees to her body. She thought that maybe if she sat there long enough she would disappear. Or maybe the village would completely disappear. Just leave her and her family all alone. Godric's mother would be all better and she wouldn't have to deal with rocks being thrown at her or people beating her just because her hair was orange. Just because a mother she never met was a demon._

"_Tora?"_

_She didn't look up, but continued to keep her head on her knees. She wasn't crying, in fact she had given up crying a long time ago. It didn't give you anything or get you anywhere. What was the point of tears anyways? It wasn't like anybody cared anyways. _

"_Tora?"_

_Yoshiko could see somebody's feet through the gap in her knees and felt their shadow fall over her. She knew right away who it was but she wanted them to go away. Didn't they realize she didn't want to be found? This was all a game of hide 'n' seek and she wasn't to hide forever. They would have to seek forever. And she didn't really care if they gave up half way through the game. _

"_You know your brother needs you right now," said her father kindly._

"_But I'm not wanted," muttered Yoshiko, looking away from any part of her father._

_Slowly he sat down next to her. Not once did she wonder why he was back to soon. It was obvious. His wife was sick and they had called him in. Surely he could make it back in a couple of hours, especially if he hadn't been too far away. But still she didn't want him there. She didn't want to leave. All she wanted was for all of this to end. It would probably solve everybody's problems._

"_You're wanted by your brother. Doesn't that count for anything?" asked her father, trying to sound like her was reprimanding her._

"_What about the villagers? His mom? The healer?" said Yoshiko icily._

"_But you shouldn't care what they think!" said her father. "They're not your family."_

"_No, but…" started Yoshiko, looking up._

"_But nothing! You've been doing well in your situation. Now, we're only asking you one more thing. I'm only asking for one more thing. Just be there for your brother," said her father, putting his arm around her shoulders._

"_Godric never asks for anything," said Yoshiko bitterly. "He just expects us to forget that he needs things."_

"_And you do the same, for the most part," said her father. "I have really great children! Now, come on! It can't be that bad."_

"_The village leader thinks I was pushing his son around…" muttered Yoshiko. "But I didn't! He was throwing rocks at Godric and me! Really!"_

"_I believe you," said her father, standing up and offering her his hand. "I'll take care of it. Don't worry."_

_Yoshiko took his hand and slowly got to her feet. She stopped to brush of some dust that had landed on her skirt._

'I've depended on my father to solve everything that I can't seem to do anything for myself anymore,' sighed Yoshiko, looking around the room hoping to see her father.

When she saw nothing she headed out of the shrine and down the hill toward Godric's grave. She tried not to remember that her old village wasn't too far away. But a part of her wanted to go back. See how much had changed. Maybe it wasn't even there anymore. Since it was so close to the Earth Shrine it was possible. And that was the reason for the small village she had never been to before.

But when she saw Utako standing over Godric's grave she forgot all about her village. Instead she stood there gazing upon the girl's solemn expressions. Suddenly the girl looked up grinning and any forgiving thoughts in Yoshiko's head quickly vanished. The girl ran forward and grabbed a hold of Yoshiko's arm, squeezing it tight in a hug, and then dragging her down to the tree.

"Did you leave the orange flower?" asked Utako.

"I left it there a long time ago," muttered Yoshiko, not looking at anything particular, unless you counted a slow moving cloud in the sky.

"I thought so!" said Utako, letting go of Yoshiko and bending down. When she straightened up, she handed the flower to Yoshiko. "Godric gave it to you so you could keep it! Not give it back!"

"But… but… but…" stammered Yoshiko, taking a step back.

"No buts! Just take it!" snapped Utako, shoving it into Yoshiko's hand.

As Yoshiko stood there, feeling numb, Sango came striding up the hill toward them. Utako sighed and waved a hand in front of the half-demon's eyes. In annoyance Yoshiko grabbed the girl's wrist and scowled at her. Sango bowed respectfully at the shrine then turned to the others. Utako was trying hard to pull out of Yoshiko's grip but the half-demon wasn't even trying. This caused Sango to giggle slightly as she pried open Yoshiko's hand and Utako feel over backwards.

"Where to now?" asked Sango.

"I don't know," shrugged Yoshiko. "I don't even remember why we're out here in the first place!"

"You didn't want to talk about Sesshomaru," said Sango.

"I know why we're in this very spot right now!" cried Yoshiko. Then she sighed. "But I don't know why we're not with the others…"

"InuYasha was depressed…" said Sango.

"I guess…" muttered Yoshiko. "But that just doesn't seem right."

"Well, when you figure it out you can tell me!" said Sango. "But in the mean time I'm sure we would all prefer not standing here all day."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," murmured Yoshiko, subconsciously putting the flower in her pocket.

Still on the ground she heard Utako mumble then slowly get to her feet. When she had, she locked arms with Yoshiko then continued to lock arms with Sango. Yoshiko moaned and hung her head as Sango smiled.

"So, where are we off to?" cried Utako.

"We?" said Yoshiko. "No you wait just one minute!" she said, pulling away. "You're not part of the 'we' and never will be! You belong in your village not chasing me around!"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" asked Utako, eyes wide.

"Yes! Quite plainly, yes!" snapped Yoshiko.

"Now I don't think that's very fair!" said Sango.

"I think it's quite fair. If she wants to follow us around she's going to get hurt. Or worse, killed!" cried Yoshiko.

"Godric told me the same thing but I still followed him around…" muttered Utako, looking at the ground.

"Good for you. You happened to not get killed then. But you aren't always going to be that lucky!" shouted Yoshiko. "Trust me, its for your own good. If I could have my way Sueko wouldn't be traveling with us!"

"You can't protect every stray girl you run across just so they don't turn out like you!" cried Sango. "Stop avoiding your problems by trying to get involved with someone else's!"

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not getting involved in anybody's problems this time," hissed Yoshiko. "In fact, I don't want to be responsible for anybody's problems anymore!"

For a minute Yoshiko and Sango stood there, glaring at each other. Utako glanced from on angry face to another. Just when it seemed she was going to be able to smooth is all over, Yoshiko turned around suddenly. There stood a young boy who was shaking in fear. When the half tiger demon's eyes locked on to his, he cried out in fear. Suddenly a young man, who appeared to be the boy's father, rushed over with an arrowed ready in his bow.

"What in the seven hells…" he started. When he saw Yoshiko he smiled slightly. "Speak of the devil! It's been a while."

"I'm sure you're just as unpleasant as usual," growled Yoshiko.

"Now I'm afraid that's not very nice! Especially since you're talking to the new village leader!" said the man, with a smirk, and putting out his chest proudly. "I could have you killed."

"And enjoy doing it, I'm sure," replied Yoshiko, grinning. "But, of course, you never did anything for yourself."

"At least I didn't go running to Daddy."

"Oh, no, of course you didn't!" said Yoshiko, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "And that's why your daddy thought I was pushing you around!"

The grin disappeared from the guy's face. For a minute Yoshiko was sure he was going to shoot the arrow. But she knew the man to be a coward. If he wasn't sure he could kill her in one shot he wouldn't even try. So instead he put away his arrow.

"You've made quite a reputation for yourself," said the man. "How many villages did you attack?"

"One," said Yoshiko shortly.

"Not from what I hear. The rumor is eleven. But that _was_ a year ago."

"Oh yes, I attack a village each year," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. "Now I've attacked people and demons in villages, but I only attacked one village as a whole."

"Not counting ours, of course," laughed the man. Yoshiko's eyes narrowed.

"As I recall, you attacked me!" snapped Yoshiko.

"Obviously Godric didn't see it that way, or he wouldn't have told you to leave. He always was a selfish boy."

Before Yoshiko could make a move, a rock flew past her head and hit the man square on the forehead. Look over her shoulder, Yoshiko saw Utako readying another rock. Her face was serious, her eyes narrowed.

"You wench!" cried the man, touching the bleeding cut on his forehead.

"You're the one that's selfish! Or just plain mean!" cried Utako, throwing another rock. This one missed.

"What?"

"Godric was not selfish!" screamed Utako.

"You're as crazy as the demon!"

"Half-demon!" cried Utako, throwing the rock in her hand and hitting the guy on the side of the head.

"I'm getting out of here," muttered the man and motioning his son to follow him.

"Who was he?" asked Sango.

Without glancing away from Utako, Yoshiko replied, "One of my biggest tormentors when I was younger. We lived in the same village."

There was a long silence as Utako continued to glare at the place the villager use to be. For some reason Yoshiko felt herself feeling sorry for the girl. When the girl burst into tears, Yoshiko was completely surprised. And when Utako started hugging her, she was taken a back. She looked at Sango in bewilderment.

"Comfort her!" mouthed Sango.

'I've only had to do this once before. 12 years ago!' thought Yoshiko, looking down at the sobbing girl. 'I'm no good at this…'

'_I'm no good at this…' thought Yoshiko as she sat in the living room with her family and a few people that liked Godric's mother._

_Her little brother had been completely quiet ever since she had walked into the room. She had tried starting a light conversation but Godric just wasn't interested. It wasn't like him. Normally he would be all about talking so everybody could feel better. Instead he let everybody's fear and depression swept over everybody in the room. Every once and a while Yoshiko would look up at her father. But it almost seemed like he had forgotten all about her. His eyes were fixed on the doorway to his wife's room._

'_Damn! She's going to die and I'm the only one that isn't going to cry,' thought Yoshiko guiltily. 'Nobody would be able to stand being around me then.'_

"_Sis?" said Godric suddenly, his voice sounding so small. "Do you still have that flower I gave you?"_

"_Yeah…" muttered Yoshiko._

"_Okay," said Godric, turning away again._

'_That was just weird,' thought Yoshiko. 'This is probably effecting his brain or something. Why would I get rid of anything he gave me?'_

_Time passed and still nobody said anything. Finally the healer came out of the room and right away Yoshiko knew it was bad news. She wanted to slip out of the room so she didn't have to hear it. But she knew that Godric would definitely need her. She didn't really hear what the healer had to say. His words seemed to pass over her like she wasn't there. But when her father got to his feet, this sort of lost expression on his face, she knew._

_There was nothing he could do and she was going to die._

_Instantly she turned to Godric who just stared at the healer in utter belief. Then, fumbling, he got to his feet and ran past the old man to his mother's bed. Tears welled up in Yoshiko's eyes as she tried not to imagine the look of pain on her brother's face. After a few quick words with her father, the healer left. Wanting an excuse not to see her brother, Yoshiko started asking the guests to leave. Kindly enough, they gave their sympathies and left quietly. Soon the room was completely empty leaving room for Yoshiko to think._

_But she soon found herself wandering into the other room. Her stepmother's pale face caused her to pause. Kane, her father, whispered a few words before his wife's eyes closed and her hand went limp. Yoshiko gasped and took a step back. This was not what she wanted to walk into._

"_Mom…" whispered Godric, getting to his feet slowly._

_She wanted to leave but her feet were glued to the ground. She wanted to say something but the words were stuck in her throat. The look on Godric's face horrified her. Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, tears welled up in her brother's eyes._

"_It's not fair!" he cried, running forward and hugging Yoshiko._

_Almost without thinking Yoshiko hugged her brother back. She stroked his head, not noticing the silent tears sliding down her cheeks. As she and her brother cried, her father slipped out of the room silently.

* * *

_

The next morning at school Tamika looked very excited and energetic—well, more then usual. 

"What's up with you?" Sueko asked.

"You're at school for once! School is so boring when you aren't around!" complained Tamika, crossing her arms and putting on a frown. But you could tell she wasn't really upset so the frown just looked cute.

"Really? Uh… okay," said Sueko, blinking a few times.

"What's up with you? You look upset…" said Tamika, uncrossing her arms and putting her hands on her hips instead, still frowning and narrowing her eyebrows as she leaned in closer to Sueko so their noses were almost touching.

"It's nothing…" said Sueko, stepping back a few paces. "I just didn't sleep well last night…"

"Well, there's only one thing that solves that!" cried Tamika, putting on a big grin on her face.

"And what's that?" asked Sueko tiredly, sighing.

"CAFFINEE!" screamed Tamika. Before Sueko could react (or cover her ears for that matter in case Tamika did it again) Tamika had put her hands on Sueko's shoulders and started steering her to the nearest vending machine. Tamika, too cheerful about her idea, ignored Sueko's complaints as people moved out of the way without one complaint.

They passed Keitaro on the way there. He seemed to be having locker troubles again.

"You stupid thing! Why won't you—for once—just plain ol' open!"

Tamika suddenly stopped her marching and Sueko would have probably tripped in surprise if Tamika didn't have such a strong grip on her.

"Hello, brother!" said Tamika cheerfully, keeping her hands on Sueko's shoulders but looking down at her brother with the grin still plated on her face.

"Yo," muttered Keitaro, re-doing the combination.

"Want some help?" asked Sueko, who peeled Tamika's hands off her shoulders and kneeled down beside Keitaro.

"Oh… _uh…_ sure…" mumbled Keitaro, who stood up and backed away a bit so Sueko would have some room.

"What's the combo?" Sueko asked, looking up at him. She noticed he had his contacts back in because there was no sign of the glasses.

"Um… 14… 16… and then 30…"

"'K!" said Sueko, hurriedly spinning the dial to the correct numbers. In about twenty seconds the locker was open and Sueko stood up with a smile on her face as she waved her hands half-heartedly and went, "Tada!"

"You're the greatest!" cried Keitaro, who suddenly wrapped his arms around Sueko's neck in joy. Sueko felt her heart go to her throat, she was so surprised, and stood there in shock as he let go a few seconds later and started cramming his book bag with books. She probably would have continued to stand there and blink all day if Tamika hadn't grabbed her arm to drag her to the vending machine, crying, "Okay, caffeine time!"

"Bye… Keitaro…" said Sueko in a daze, wondering how long it'd take for her heart to return to it's normal pace.

* * *

Yoshiko's first thought was to yell at the girl to get a life. But Sango was standing right there, her arms crossed, waiting for her to do something. And then Yoshiko didn't really care, and patted the Utako's back. After a few minutes she finally stopped crying, took a step back and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She smiled slightly and looked up at Yoshiko.

"You okay?" asked the half-demon. Utako nodded and then looked away.

"So, what was up with that guy?" asked Sango, trying to change the subject slightly.

"Didn't I all ready tell you!" cried Yoshiko, but in a teasing way.

"Not like it made sense or anything," said Sango. "In fact you hardly ever make sense."

"Don't I know it…" muttered Yoshiko.

Suddenly Utako hit her over the head.

"What was that for?" cried Yoshiko.

"Stop being so depressed! Its like, contagious or something!" snapped Utako.

"She's right you know," said Sango.

There was a pause in which Yoshiko moaned and hung her head. Then Utako's face look all thoughtful as her eyes sort of glazed over. Sango blinked in confusion until the girl started grinning. Yoshiko looked at the girl out of the corner of her eye.

"So, what are we doing?" asked Utako, scratching her head in confusion.

"What do you have? Short term memory loss?" cried Yoshiko, glaring at the girl.

"Huh?" said Utako, putting her hands behind her head. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"I'm going to kill you…" growled Yoshiko, holding up her fist.

"Now, now," laughed Sango, waving her hands.

Shaking her head, Yoshiko started down to the village. At first she didn't think Utako and Sango were going to follow her. But then the girl caught up with her and grabbed her hand. Finally they reached the village and Yoshiko was able to shake Utako off. When they reached their room there was a very strange visitor holding her sword.

"Takeno? What the hell are you doing here?" cried Yoshiko, putting her hands on her hips and leaning down almost to his eye level.

"I expected better out of you, Yoshiko," sighed Takeno, shaking his head.

"Did you like expect me to welcome you with open arms or something?" asked Yoshiko, raising her eyebrows.

"Of all people to abuse your sword… it shocks me…" muttered the old man as if to himself.

"Abuse… abuse my sword…" stammered Yoshiko. "IT'S A FREAKIN' INANIMATE OBJECT!"

"What now?" sighed Sango, wandering into the room. "Who's he?"

"Me?" said the old man, opening an eye and grinning. He got to his feet slowly and then struck a triumphant pose. "I am Lord Takeno, an old warrior and a great sword maker!"

"Careful, he may ask you to bow next time…" muttered Yoshiko.

Suddenly Takeno's eyes narrowed and he looked at the half-demon out of the corner of his eyes. Yoshiko's eyes opened in fear and she grabbed the nearest person to her to put between her and the old man. That person just happened to be a very dazed and confused Utako. She looked over each of her shoulders to try and look at Yoshiko. When that didn't work she looked at Takeno as if pleading him to help.

"This is just pathetic," muttered Sango. "Now may I ask why you're here, Lord Takeno?"

"Just Takeno please," said the old man, sitting down and grabbing some of the leftover bread.

"Were you invited to that bread?" snapped Yoshiko.

Takeno chose to ignore this comment as he took a couple of bites of _that_ bread. Finally he stopped and leaned forward to look at all three girls at once. Utako had seemingly forgotten that Yoshiko was hiding behind her and wandered over to a corner. Yoshiko thought about hiding behind Sango but when the demon exterminator gave her this look that said 'don't mess with me' she decided against it. So she had to sit with Sango in front of the old man.

"I was visiting the Earth Shrine village to visit an old friend. Then the leader of the village came and said that 'the confounded tiger beast' was back," explained Takeno. "Or at least, something around those lines. So I thought I would come to visit my granddaughter."

"Since when were we related?" said Yoshiko in disbelief.

"Since you were born! What did you think, your father liked visiting me because he liked me?" laughed Takeno.

"Well… yeah…" muttered Yoshiko. "Well he never spoke about his family because it strayed too close to my mother!"

"He never was the brightest kid," sighed Takeno, shaking his head.

In anger Yoshiko hit the guy on the head. "That's your son you're talking about!"

"Forgive me," said Takeno.

"Oi…" moaned Yoshiko.

"So, what made you leave your sword lying around on the ground… without its sheath?" reprimanded Takeno.

"Let's not get into this…" muttered Yoshiko. She really didn't want to think about what she and Sango had fought about.

"I was looking at it!" cried Utako from the corner.

Everybody had seemed to forget about her so when she spoke everybody jumped—even Takeno, which surprised Yoshiko… a lot. But everybody jumping just caused Utako to get confused so she looked away. When it seemed she was back in dreamland Yoshiko and Sango turned back to Takeno. The old man, however, continued to look at Utako as if worried about her well-being.

"What did you do to her?" he asked Yoshiko.

"I didn't do anything to her!" cried Yoshiko. "Why does she have to be fault? I just met her yesterday!"

"Really? I do believe Godric might have brought her over to my place a couple of times," said Takeno thoughtfully. "But anyways, I'm supposed to be making you feel guilty about treating the sword your father had made for you poorly."

"Uh huh… and then my father went off and basically committed suicide," shrugged Yoshiko. "Why should I treat the sword nicely when I don't even respect the man that gave it to me anymore?"

"That's an excellent question!" cried Takeno, clapping his hands together. "But, you don't really mean that."

"Don't tell me what I mean and don't, old man!" said Yoshiko, crossing her arms. "Now I did love my father but after his wife died I lost my respect for him."

"Your mother died?" said Sango, blinking.

"No. He got married again!" cried Yoshiko. "I mean, that's the only way Godric could have been all human!"

"That's true…" said Sango thoughtfully. "I guess I never really thought about it before now."

"Actually he never married your mother…" said Takeno.

"Like I would know," growled Yoshiko. "He never told me anything about my mother."

"Well your sword really needs to be sharpened but I left all my stuff at home," said Takeno, getting to his feet. "Its not too far away."

"Sounds great," said Sango, also standing up.

For a minute Yoshiko thought about just sitting there. But then she realized what this meant: an excuse to leave this place and Utako! No more memories and no more annoyance. So she lazily crawled over to her sword, put it in its sheath and stood up. Suddenly in the corner the girl got to her feet and walked over to Yoshiko looking at her with very wide eyes.

"What?" snapped Yoshiko.

"You're—you're leaving…" she said in a small hurtful voice.

"Yeah…" said Yoshiko, looking away.

"Well if you're going to leave me behind you have to promise me one thing!" said Utako.

"I'll come back, don't worry…" sighed Yoshiko.

"That would be nice. But I want you to make up with this Sesshomaru guy!" said Utako, putting her hands on her hips.

"Uh…" said Yoshiko. Then she looked up at Sango who was grinning guiltily. "Fine!"

"Yay!" cried Utako, hugging the half-demon around the waist. Then she looked up at Yoshiko, again, looking serious. "And don't you dare get rid of that flower!"

"What flower?" cried Yoshiko.

"What do you have? Short term memory loss?" cried Utako.

"I don't know what you're talking about," laughed Yoshiko, patting the girl on the head and following Takeno and Sango out of the inn.

* * *

"Sometimes I regret going to Feudal Japan all the time," sighed Sueko, sitting down next to Tamika at the lunch table.

"Why's that?" asked Tamika curiously.

"Because normally I understand nothing at school. So being gone for long periods of time really, really helps with that problem!" complained Sueko.

"Wow. Join the club," said someone in front of Sueko. She almost would have said it was Keitaro but his voice was too low.

"Who are you?" asked Sueko, looking at the guy in front of her. He had extremely messy black hair (messier then Keitaro's—if that was even possible) that was in a bad need of a trim, and he had grey eyes that looked quite stunning.

"Just some random citizen of Japan. You?" asked the guy boredly.

"Akio, get a life," muttered Keitaro, who had just showed up and sat down with his tray of food.

"So that's your name?" asked Sueko.

"Why do you care so much about my identity? Do you want my money or something?" asked the guy named Akio, crossing his arms and leaning on the table so his face was closer to Sueko's.

"No—nothing like that!" cried Sueko, sliding her chair back.

Akio laughed. "Keitaro, what's up with your girlfriend?"

Keitaro almost chocked on the soda he was drinking. He slammed his drink on the table and cried, "She's NOT my girlfriend! She's—um—Tamika's friend…"

"Hi!" said Tamika on cue.

"Whatever," said Akio, leaning back on his chair so it tipped back slightly.

"Who are you?" asked Sueko again.

"Haven't we been through this already?" asked Akio boredly—well, he seemed to always sound bored.

"No, no, not like that! I know your name, but that's it," said Sueko. "Are you Keitaro's friend or something?"

Keitaro slammed the can of soda back on the table again. "Akio's NOT my friend!"

Akio frowned. "Oh, come on, Keitaro! We've been best friends since primary school. How can you just suddenly change your mind and destroy the fine, wonderful relationship we had since our youth?" he whined.

"Shut up and get a life!" said Keitaro, hitting Akio on the back of the head. "How can I have ever been friends with _you_?"

"You're making me hurt… right here," said Akio, putting a hand on his chest.

"Stop that already!" cried Keitaro.

"This is all very amusing," said Tamika to Sueko. "Don't you think?"

"Um… sure…" said Sueko. "I'm just confused…"

"So, Keitaro," said Akio, giving up with his hurtful act. "Where'd you get the babe?"

Keitaro actually _did_ choke on his soda. Akio just looked boredly at his friend as Keitaro tried to breathe again. When he was able to he hit Akio on the head again.

"When someone chokes DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" cried Keitaro.

"Okay, okay!" said Akio, putting his hands in the air. "But you didn't answer my question."

"What do you think, Akio? Tamika's my SISTER! Must I spell it out for you?" cried Keitaro, starting to get red in the face with his anger.

"No, no, not her," said Akio, waving a hand, "though she _is_ rather special," he added with a wink.

"Um…" said Tamika. "Uh…"

Sueko patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"What I meant was _her_," said Akio, pointing at Sueko. "Where'd you get _her_?"

"WHAT!" cried Keitaro. Sueko screamed and fell off her chair.

"Are you okay?" asked Tamika, looking down at the ground.

"No…." muttered Sueko, holding up her fist at Tamika. But Tamika just thought Sueko wanted help up so she grabbed the fist and pulled her up with both hands. All this accomplished was getting Sueko to a sitting position.

"Thanks. That was extremely helpful," said Sueko sarcastically, standing up and brushing the dirt off her butt.

"Glad to be a help!" said Tamika seriously.

"_Anyways_!" cried Sueko, sitting back down at the table and slamming both hands on the table to face Akio. He looked at her with one raised eyebrow as if he was expecting her to do something amusing.

"Please tell me what I heard I didn't really hear, and it was just a brief moment of insanity, or maybe I was possessed by some sort of demon or another," said Sueko, looking at Akio so seriously it was actually pretty amusing looking.

"Um… I guess it depends on what you heard, I suppose," said Akio, putting a finger to his chin to look thoughtful.

"I heard you say Sueko was a 'babe,'" said Keitaro, shoving some rice into his mouth and talking with his mouth full.

"Keitaro!" scolded Tamika, waving her pointer finger at Keitaro's face.

"Shove it, Tamika," said Keitaro, not looking away from Akio.

"Fine, everyone ignore me!" cried Tamika, crossing her arms.

"I'm not ignoring you!" said Sueko suddenly.

"Oh, me too!" said Akio.

"Now I'm worried," said Tamika.

"ANYWAYS!" cried Keitaro.

"Oh, yeah, um…" said Akio. "Yeah, I think she's a babe. So?"

Sueko just sat there with her jaw nearly touching the table and her eyes blinking so quickly they were almost closed.

"You okay?" asked Tamika, waving a hand in front of Sueko.

"I think I'm going through shock," said Sueko. "Maybe I'll be permanently traumatized for life. Or something…"

"What? You're hot! So?" said Akio, crossing his arms and shrugging.

"Me? Hot? Are you insane? What are you taking? Haven't you heard that drugs are BAD, not GOOD?" cried Sueko.

"Maybe a little," said Akio, looking thoughtful. "Insane, I mean. I don't take drugs unless the good ol' doctor says so, and then I follow the directions correctly on the bottle."

"Good to know," said Sueko tonelessly.

"So… are you busy after school? We could go to WacDonald's or something," asked Akio.

"What!" said Sueko.

"You don't even know her name yet!" cried Keitaro.

"Oh yeah. What's your name?"

"Oh my God!" cried Keitaro. "Tamika, hand me a book so I can hit my head with it!"

"Why? You could just use the table…" said Tamika. "But then again, this poor table has just been so abused! Maybe you shouldn't…"

"Uh…" said Sueko.

"I'm sure the table's thankful for your… er… kindness…" said Akio.

"Wow, that's quite a large word for you to say," said Keitaro, faking amazement.

"Why thank you, good friend," said Akio, patting Keitaro on the head.

"Uh huh…" said Keitaro, ducking from Akio's hand.

"So, what do you say—wait, I didn't get your name…" said Akio.

"That's because I never gave it to you!" cried Sueko.

"Okay. Maybe you should…" said Akio.

"How about… _not_!" said Sueko, suddenly standing up.

"Huh?" said Akio.

"Oh, poor thing. You've never been turned down by a pretty girl before, have you?" teased Keitaro.

Akio shrugged. "Oh well. What about you, Tamika? Tamika?"

But Tamika wasn't there. Neither was Sueko.

"Hmm…" said Akio.

"Ha-ha," said Keitaro.

Akio lifted his chin a bit and looked above Keitaro's head. "Hey, I see a _fine_ looking table full of—"

"NO!" said Keitaro, grabbing a hold of Akio's collar as he tried to get up. "You're staying right here so I can make sure you don't break some other girl's heart!"

"Huh?" said Akio.

"You hurt Sueko's feelings!" cried Keitaro.

"Oh. So?"

"Why do I tolerate you?' muttered Keitaro, shaking his head.

* * *

"I thought you said it wasn't that far!" cried Yoshiko a couple of hours later.

Takeno chose to ignore her as they continued on their way. The sun was starting to set, Yoshiko was getting both hungry and thirsty and Sango looked tired. How the old man could keep going was a mystery to both women. Finally Sango got so annoyed she sat down and wouldn't get back up no matter what Takeno said. Hearing a river not too far away, Yoshiko snuck off, leaving the two to bicker. She wouldn't be gone too long.

As she walking through the trees toward the sound of running water, she thought she heard a familiar voice. But when she stopped Yoshiko didn't hear it, so she kept on going. Just as she was about to give up on finding water, she stumbled on a small creek. A grin spread across her face as she knelt down to take a drink. Then she heard somebody step out of the trees behind her. Quickly she spun around and saw, amazingly enough, Rin step out of the trees.

"Lady Yoshiko!" she cried, grinning.

"Uh…" said Yoshiko, standing up and expecting Sesshomaru to follow behind the girl. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for something to eat," said Rin, glancing over her shoulder to see what Yoshiko was looking at.

"Let me rephrase that. What are you doing alone?" asked Yoshiko.

"Oh, well Lord Sesshomaru normally sends Jaken after me… but I guess I didn't go off too far this time," said Rin thoughtfully.

For some reason Yoshiko was slightly disappointed that Sesshomaru wouldn't show up. But she didn't want to face him purposefully at this time. Wandering over him accidentally… then she would have to make up with him! She sighed and turned back around to get a drink of water. When she sat back up, Rin was sitting next to her, staring at her. Yoshiko raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Weren't you going to look for food?" asked Yoshiko.

"Well I'm not really that hungry," said Rin, putting her feet into the water.

Out of her pack, Yoshiko pulled out a little bit of bread. She handed Rin half of it and nibbled on a bit of it herself. There was a long silence broken only by the sound of the running water and Rin kicking her feet in the stream. Finally Yoshiko decided that she should probably get back or Sango and Takeno would start wondering where she disappeared to. Or maybe they wouldn't and would leave without her. But when she started to stand up, Rin grabbed her sleeve.

"Why'd you leave?" she asked looking so cute and hurt at the same time.

"Because…" said Yoshiko, thinking back. "You know what, I don't really remember!"

She sat down and stared across the creek to watch what bit of the setting sun she would through the trees. Her mind just couldn't make the connection between what she and Sesshomaru fought about to her running away. In fact, she could hardly remember why they had started fighting in the first place. Rin smiled and leaned her head on Yoshiko's arm, though not in a tired way.

"I miss you!" said Rin. "And I think Lord Sesshomaru might miss you too."

"I doubt it…" muttered Yoshiko. "But I missed you too."

At this Rin pulled away and looked at Yoshiko seriously.

"Don't you miss Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked.

"It's more complicated than that, Rin," sighed Yoshiko, looking away. "Besides, I kind of needed to get away from for a little while."

"But do you have to be gone for this long? You were only there for one day!" complained Rin. "You can't be mad at Lord Sesshomaru forever!"

"Watch me," growled Yoshiko.

"That's not very nice," pouted Rin, crossing her arms.

"Well I'm not a very nice person," said Yoshiko finally getting to her feet. She turned and started walking away.

"But I think you're a nice person…" muttered Rin.

In surprise, Yoshiko looked over her shoulder. After a while Rin got to her feet and walked over to Yoshiko. She pulled something out of her pocket and held it up to the half-demon. When Yoshiko saw it she gasped and took a step back. In Rin's hand was a small orange flower almost identical to the once Godric had given her 12 years ago.

"When I saw it I thought of you," said Rin quietly. "So I picked it just for you. Do you like it?"

"It's…" started Yoshiko. Then she took the flower and smiled slightly. "I like it. Thank you Rin."

The girl grinned and started laughing. Then not too far away, Sesshomaru's voice came calling Rin's name. Yoshiko's eyes went wide as he came striding out of the trees. As soon as he was in the clearing his eyes connected with Yoshiko's and he paused. Almost as if she knew this wasn't something she should be in the middle on, Rin ran past Sesshomaru and into the trees. This left the two all alone and Yoshiko feeling very uncomfortable. Then Sesshomaru started to turn away.

"Wait!" cried Yoshiko, taking a half step forward. When he did stop she was so surprised she forgot what she was going to say.

"Did you abandon your friends as well?" growled Sesshomaru.

"I didn't abandon anyone!" snapped Yoshiko. Then she stopped. "Look, I don't want to fight. That's what got us in this mess in the first place."

"What mess?" asked Sesshomaru, his voice and face impassive.

"You know, I was so mad at you I forgot why I was mad at you in the first place and that just made me feel even worse!" Yoshiko half shouted. "So you tell me, what mess?"

"It wasn't that long ago," snapped Sesshomaru, looking at her again. "Do you forget so easily?"

"Sorry…" muttered Yoshiko, turning away. When Sesshomaru didn't say anything, she turned back. "I'm sorry okay?"

"Yoshiko?" came a familiar voice.

When she finally recognized the voice, Yoshiko moaned and put a hand on her forehead. This could not be happening! Of all people to interrupt this moment… Not that it was going anywhere though. Finally, stumbling out of the trees, came… Takeno. When he saw Sesshomaru he scratched the back on his head and turned to Yoshiko with his eyebrows raised.

"Who are you?" asked Sesshomaru, turning to the old man.

"Nobody of importance," shrugged Takeno.

"Will you make up your mind on how you introduce yourself?" cried Yoshiko. "What do you want anyways?"

"Well you were taking your sweet time!" snapped the old man. "And Sango was starting to get worried."

"But you weren't… I feel so loved," said Yoshiko, shaking her head.

"You're wasting my time," said Sesshomaru, starting to leave.

"And what exactly do you do with your time?" snapped Yoshiko, putting her hands on her hips. "As far as I know, nothing productive."

"How is that any of your business?" asked Sesshomaru not turning to look at her.

"What do you think you're doing hanging out with demons?" asked Takeno, scratching the back of his head. "Didn't living with your aunt teach you anything?"

"Will you stay out of this, old man?" cried Yoshiko. "What I do with my life is none of your concern."

"Being your grandfather, I think your protection is my main concern," said Takeno, matching Yoshiko's pose.

"Oh, please. He hasn't tried to kill me," said Yoshiko, throwing her hands up in the air. "Unlike my aunt…"

"I could kill you…" said Sesshomaru before walking away completely.

"Fine! Be that way!" cried Yoshiko, not exactly sure why she was even bothering. Then she sighed and started walking back to the path. "Are you coming or not, Takeno?"

"Aren't you just miss bossy…" muttered the old man.

* * *

"Sueko?" asked Tamika timidly, walking out of the lunchroom and looking in the hallway for her friend. She didn't have to look far—she was leaning on the wall right outside the lunchroom.

"What?" said Sueko moodily, not looking up from the ground.

"Sueko!" cried Tamika, standing in front of Sueko with her hands on her hips. "You're supposed to be happy! You can't be depressed! That's just wrong!"

"Humph!" said Sueko, crossing her arms.

"Are you even going to look at me?" asked Tamika almost sadly, putting her arms down.

Sueko raised her head. "There, I'm looking at you."

"Not like _that_!" said Tamika, rolling her eyes.

"How else am I supposed to look at you!" cried Sueko.

"Hmm…" said Tamika.

"Never mind," said Sueko, shaking her head and looking back down at her feet.

"What's wrong?" asked Tamika, cocking her head to the side.

"Nothing."

"Uh huh! And you're analyzing your shoes because you're merely bored?" asked Tamika.

"No!" said Sueko, sighing.

"You don't _have_ to tell me," said Tamika. "I mean, I'd like it if you did so you'd stop looking at your shoes, but whatever… Hey, you have really small feet…"

"Tamika!" cried Sueko.

"What?" asked Tamika, grinning and putting her hands behind her back.

"Sheesh! You're kinda annoying sometimes, you know that!" cried Sueko.

"Yeah… Keitaro says that too…" said Tamika, looking thoughtful.

"Well, he does have to live with you. But living with you wouldn't be that bad, actually… you can actually cook," said Sueko.

"Hmm… weren't we talking about something else before?" asked Tamika.

"Not really…" said Sueko, sighing again.

"Oh yeah! You were upset!" said Tamika.

"Uh huh…" said Sueko. "But there's so many other topics to talk about…"

"But this ones more interesting!" said Tamika. "So what's up?"

"Nothing!" cried Sueko.

"Well, aren't you touchy," said Tamika with a frown.

"Maybe I don't want to tell you what's wrong. Ever thought of that!" complained Sueko, crossing her arms and turning her head away.

"Maybe you should!" said Tamika. "Besides, are you really going to make me go back to Akio and Keitaro!"

Sueko sighed. "I just want to forget about him, that's all!"

"Who? Keitaro?" asked Tamika.

"No…" sighed Sueko.

"You mean the guy with the weird outfit?" asked Tamika. "And the cool hair… that's white and all? Or is it grey…"

"Yeah, him…" said Sueko.

"What happened exactly?" asked Tamika. "I mean, you don't have to say if you don't want to but I kinda forgot what you said before… and I don't think you said anything anyways so… um, yeah… what happened!"

"I fell in love with the guy but he liked some other girl instead. Wow, so amazing, move on!" said Sueko.

"Don't say it like that!" cried Tamika. "Now it just sounds depressing…"

"It IS depressing!" cried Sueko.

"Well, no duh, but you could make it sound nicer… besides, they always get back together in those sappy romance movies… Then they go have sex… Don't have sex, Sueko!"

"Tamika!" cried Sueko, turning a bit pink in the face. "Life's not a sappy romance movie! And people don't have sex twenty four hours a day!"

"I heard in America they do…" said Tamika.

"No they don't," said Sueko suddenly.

"What do you mean they don't?"

"I lived there for about half a year. And actually, they're kinda boring…" said Sueko. "Except for they have cool music…"

"Um… okay… I won't go to America then," said Tamika.

"Isn't class about to start?" asked Sueko, trying to change the subject.

"Sure, but this is more important! You have to get back together with Inu… um… whatever! Silver-haired boy!" cried Tamika, grabbing a hold of Sueko's arm dramatically.

"How about _not_?" said Sueko, jerking her arm out of Tamika's grip. "He never liked me anyways!"

Tamika was about to say something but then the cafeteria door opened and Keitaro poked his head out.

"How are you guys doing?" asked Keitaro.

"We're girls, not guys!" cried Tamika, her hands on her hips again.

"Tamika, get a life," said Keitaro, walking completely out the door and closing it. "Akio was annoying me and I'm tired of watching over him like I'm a watchdog or something…" Then he turned a little pink and muttered, "or watchcat…"

"Oh, save it," said Sueko, waving a hand aside.

"Are you okay, then?" asked Keitaro.

"As good as I can be," said Sueko.

Keitaro paused for a moment before muttering, "I'll never understand girls…"

"Are we _that_ confusing?" asked Tamika.

"Yes, you are. Especially _you_!" said Keitaro.

"Uh huh!" said Sueko.

"Is that a compliment?" asked Tamika.

"Sure," said Sueko, putting her hands on Tamika's shoulders and pushing her towards their next class. "Think what you want…"

"Are you okay?" asked Keitaro again.

"Keitaro, end it!" cried Sueko.

"Fine…" muttered Keitaro, slumping his shoulders and following Sueko and Tamika.


	22. That Four Letter Word

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Hmm… Hello! How are you doing today? I'm just fine, thank you very much! Um… I don't really know what to say… How about I just skip over to the disclaimer then, 'k?

**DISCLAIMER **  
**Shonen Jump** is mentioned in this fan fic, and for those who don't know what it is (I didn't know what it was until recently…) I'll explain it to you! YAY! Basically, it's an American magazine with all of these chapters from really popular manga (though I think it has to be popular in America for it to count...). So that'd include InuYasha, because that's really popular here… except they put different anime in different issues, so it's not always the same one. Some of the anime included are **Yu-Gi-Oh!**, **Naruto**, **Dragon Ball**-something-that-I-can't-remember-the-name-of, **Shaman** **King**, and **InuYasha** (duh). I don't know if this is available in different countries, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find it Japan, but I felt like mentioning it so I did. LIVE WITH IT! (To tell you the truth, I thought it was a Japanese magazine until I borrowed an issue from my friend and discovered that it's purely American. And that was after I wrote this post. But I don't feel like changing it so live with it!

I still don't own InuYasha, **Rurouni Kenshin**, **Wolf's Rain** or **Chobits**, but they're all mentioned in one way or another in this fan fic. Of course, this is an _InuYasha_ fan fic, so what do you expect? InuYasha sort of _is_ mentioned! I also don't own Toboe, sausages, or really random purple-eyed girl that Toboe gets a crush on, but that's mentioned too. Then again, that's all from **Wolf's Rain **so whatever! Anyways, happy reading!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: That Four-Letter Word**

It was dull and boring without Sueko around. For one, there were no demons going after them trying to get her power or her sword. And then there was the fact that Miroku and InuYasha were just a little mad that the girls had disappeared. Okay, Miroku was mad. Mad… mad was an utter and complete understatement for InuYasha. He was fuming. Whenever Yoshiko tried to start a conversation he would snap and once she swore his eyes flashed red. Okay, not really. It was just a joke between her and Sango.

After what had happened a week ago Sango and Yoshiko had become closer. They were almost inseparable, so the guys being depressed and mad weren't as bad to handle. In fact they spend most of their day away from Miroku and InuYasha—from Miroku because you never know when he might want to make a move on them; InuYasha because he was just all around irritable, and it wasn't just at them. Most of it was being mad at himself but since InuYasha would never admit it, he tried to blame everybody else. Eventually he calmed down enough to talk.

"Where the hell were you two anyways?" he snapped, standing over the two girls as they sat talking.

"I'm sorry, did you want to ask us something?" asked Yoshiko, not looking up at the half-demon.

"You two just left and were gone for almost three days," cried InuYasha, putting his hands on his hips. "I think we have a right to know where you were!"

"We?" said Sango, raising an eyebrow and looking around InuYasha to where Miroku was sitting.

"Hey, I'm not a part of this!" said Miroku, holding up his hands.

"I needed to get away for a little bit. We stopped by my old village," said Yoshiko, shrugging. "I was hoping to get some leads on the shrines."

"Instead we met an adorable girl that has this cute crush on her little brother," laughed Sango.

"Oh, yes, that annoying girl 'adorable,'" said Yoshiko rolling her eyes. "And having a crush on some dead guy is _not_ cute!"

"But you can tell she really liked him," said Sango, crossing her arms.

"You could tell she _thought_ she liked him," said Yoshiko, getting to her feet.

She could feel everybody's eyes on her back as she walked a short distance away. Even though she knew they weren't going to stop her, she really didn't feel like leaving. Really, the only point of leaving would be to see Sesshomaru… and there would be no point in that. So she would only have to get a hold of herself in a minute or two and then go back. Then just as Yoshiko was ready to turn back around, there was rustling in the bushes. Immediately InuYasha jumped forward with his sword drawn at the same instant that Miroku and Sango grabbed their weapons. Yoshiko put a hand on her sword hilt but she didn't pull it out.

Suddenly a tail shot out of the trees and grabbed her dagger. InuYasha attempted cutting it off, but all it did was make a loud clang. Just as the demon was moving away she made a grab for it and missed. InuYasha and Yoshiko chased after it but it soon got too far ahead. Finally, it seemed, InuYasha got annoyed with it. Using the Wind Scar he hoped the kill the demon completely. But all it succeeded in doing was pissing it off.

As the demon stopped and swung its scaly head around Yoshiko attempted one of her fire attacks. But the dagger in the serpent's clutches warded the danger away. In retaliation the snake demon spat acid at the half tiger demon. She blocked it with her sword and it seemed like there was no lasting damage. Just in case, though, she put it away so she wouldn't be tempted to do it again.

The snake launched a few more rounds of acid at her, which she dodged easily. As Yoshiko distracted it, InuYasha made his way around it and tried cleaving the demon in two. However the scales continued to deflect his blows. In annoyance the demon swat at InuYasha with its tail. Then it turned its yellow narrow eyes on Yoshiko. Hissing, it came in for a deathblow. Just as she was sure it was all over a blast of blue energy was sent into its mouth. The attacks made its way down the snake's body until it shot out of the tip of its tail, sending the dagger flying. Yoshiko managed to catch it as InuYasha turned his sword toward the source of the attack.

"What are you doing here?" snapped InuYasha as Yoshiko turned to see Sesshomaru step out of the trees.

"You just keep showing up!" cried Yoshiko feeling like throwing the dagger in her hand at him.

"Me? You're the one that shows up," growled Sesshomaru. "This is the third time I've saved you."

"But why would you?" muttered InuYasha, lowering his sword in shock. "Just when I think I've got you figured out you find another way to surprise me."

"You stole my line," said Yoshiko, crossing her arms and turning away.

The wind blew through the trees as all three of them stood there. The only sound that could be heard was that of the leaves. The only movement was InuYasha sheathing his sword, something that surprised Yoshiko. But she showed no sign of noticing. That was when she realized that there was a fourth person standing there.

"Why can't you just apologize?" cried Rin's little voice.

"I have—" started Yoshiko, spinning around.

But Rin wasn't looking at her. The little girl was looking up at Sesshomaru. She almost looked angry. Which astonished Yoshiko and seemed to have Sesshomaru shocked. InuYasha just looked all around confused: by Sesshomaru, by his reactions, by the little girl. And how they and Yoshiko seemed to know each other really well. It didn't matter how many times he had heard about it, it still kind of scared him.

"I'm not leaving without Yoshiko this time!" said Rin, her little hands in uncharacteristic fists. "So apologize or I'm staying."

"Then stay," said Sesshomaru, seeming to regain his composure.

'Wait!' thought Yoshiko. 'But tonight is the half-moon. I don't need Rin seeing me like that!'

It seemed like the same thing was going through InuYasha's mind.

"We don't have time to take care of a little girl," he objected.

"Find time," said Sesshomaru turning and walking away.

"You're not serious, Rin," moaned Yoshiko when the little girl didn't follow.

"Lord Sesshomaru will come back for me!" said Rin. And the way she said it, Yoshiko almost believed her.

* * *

After walking a short distance away, Sesshomaru stopped. He almost thought about going back and getting Rin. He didn't care if Yoshiko came, it didn't feel right without the little girl. In fact, now that he thought about it, it didn't feel right without Yoshiko. Maybe it would have just been easier to apologize since she had already. All of this was pointless and, truthfully, he did want Yoshiko to come with.

'This is pathetic,' thought Sesshomaru continuing on. 'She's a half-demon."

"What's that supposed to mean?" said another voice in the back of his head.

His eyes narrowed as he reached the place where he had left Jaken—with Rin. But now Rin was with Yoshiko. A thought crossed his mind that was where he wanted to be. Jaken jumped off Aun when he noticed Sesshomaru.

"Where's Rin?" he asked, pausing and looking behind Sesshomaru as if expecting to see the girl.

"She's with Yoshiko," said Sesshomaru shortly.

"You know Yoshiko?" said a woman's voice from up in the trees.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" cried Jaken.

From above a woman dropped right in front of Sesshomaru. She had long black hair and bright blue eyes. Not only did she have stripes on her cheeks, but also on her hands. A grin spread across her face as Sesshomaru glared down at her.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"I heard you say my niece's name," said the tiger demon. "How well do you know Yoshiko?"

"Who are you?" asked Sesshomaru.

"My name is Emiko," the woman said sweetly. "And you would be…"

"What is it you want with Yoshiko?" growled Sesshomaru. After somebody had pretended to be Yoshiko he hardly trusted anyone, _especially_ someone with blue eyes.

"She's got something that belongs to me and I want it back," hissed Emiko.

"I won't be a part of it," said Sesshomaru, starting to leave.

"Oh, but you _will_," laughed Emiko, putting a hand on his cheeks.

As she forced him to look back at her, Emiko's eyes seemed to turn green. They looked almost similar to Yoshiko's. And, it seemed, because of this he couldn't move away. As the tiger demon kissed him, the whole world fell away.

* * *

Sueko sighed as she attempted to dodge all the round, red balls coming her way. 'PE was never my favorite period of the day…'

"Yo! Sueko!" cried Tamika's voice from the opposite team.

Sueko looked around until she found Tamika standing right by the wall, waving her hand at her and completely ignoring the dodge balls that were flying at every direction all around her.

"_What_?" cried Sueko, running over to Tamika, ducking a few times at the balls coming her way.

"Hi!" said Tamika, wiggling her fingers at Sueko and smiling.

"What!" repeated Sueko, crossing her arms.

"So, have you forgotten about him yet?" Tamika asked. "Or are you still remembering him?"

"Huh?" said Sueko, blinking.

"Kimono dude!" cried Tamika, waving her arms.

"No, and even if I did you saying that wouldn't have helped!" said Sueko.

"Oh. Sorry…" said Tamika. "You know, you should wear your hair up more often. You look cute with it up…"

"I only have it up so it doesn't get in the way as I do about a gazillion push ups," muttered Sueko.

"You only had to do ten extra for being late," said Tamika.

"You're the one who made me late!" cried Sueko.

"Oh, yeah, I did…" said Tamika.

Sueko opened her mouth and was about to say something, but a dodge ball hit her right in the face and instead she just moaned and fell on her butt, and moaning louder because both her nose and butt really hurt.

"Are you okay!" cried Tamika.

"Ow…" muttered Sueko, covering her sore nose and not even paying attention to another ball coming her way, which just bounced off her shoulder and went somewhere else.

"Um… Sueko?" said Tamika timidly.

"What?" asked Sueko tiredly, getting to her feet and brushing away at the dust on her.

"Um… your nose…" said Tamika, tapping her finger on her own nose.

"Huh?" Sueko removed her hand from her nose only to discover there was a bit of blood on it.

"Okay, I think God's trying to punish me today or something!" cried Sueko.

"Hmm… I've had a rather good day today…" said Tamika thoughtfully.

"Be right back," mumbled Sueko, rushing over to the girls' locker rooms to get some tissues or something to stop the bleeding. When she came back out she noticed Keitaro was sitting in the corner of the gym against the wall while hugging his knees to his chest and ducking his head every time a dodge ball came ten feet near him.

"Keitaro?" cried Sueko, running over to where he sat.

He looked up at Sueko and, in seeing her, looked somewhat relieved. Then suddenly concerned. "What happened?"

"Huh? Oh… a dodge ball hit my nose…" mumbled Sueko, turning a bit pink.

"Ouch!" said Keitaro.

"So why are you sitting in the corner all by yourself?" asked Sueko.

"Oh, that… well, I know I'm not very manly in saying this, but I never really did like Physical Education…" muttered Keitaro, turning a bit pink too.

"You could just call it PE,' said Sueko.

"Yeah, I could…"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better I don't like PE either," said Sueko, smiling slightly.

Keitaro laughed. "Thanks…"

"So…" Sueko said, sitting down next to Keitaro and hugged her legs to her knees also, "how come every time we get put into teams I'm always on the losing side?"

"Why's Tamika always on the winning side?" asked Keitaro.

"I don't know," said Sueko, laughing. She looked over at the other side of the gym to see Tamika throwing a dodge ball towards someone and crying, "Take that, you jerk!"

"Typical Tamika," muttered Sueko, smiling and shaking her head.

"Hey," said Keitaro suddenly, "your hair is up."

"Why is everyone pointing this out?" thought Sueko out loud. Then she giggled. "I always put it up for PE. Otherwise it gets in the way."

"It looks cute that way," said Keitaro.

Sueko laughed. "Is it 'let's point out Sueko's good looks' day or something!"

"Well, you're not ugly looking or anything," said Keitaro.

"Did I say I was?"

"I don't know. Did you?"

"Keitaro! You're the one who brought it up!" cried Sueko.

"Actually, technically _you_ brought it up, I just continued on with the subject at hand," explained Keitaro.

"Don't you belong in the science classroom right now?" laughed Sueko.

"Nah. Science isn't really my thing…"

"Fine! Then math!"

"Okay!"

The two laughed. With regret, Sueko heard someone call her name and looked up to find Akio waving his hand at her from Tamika's team.

"Oh, god…" muttered Sueko, getting up from the gym floor.

"Hope your nose gets better," said Keitaro from the ground, grinning.

"That's all you've got to say to me?" asked Sueko. "Now I have to talk to Akio!"

"I really look like I care, seeing how I've had to deal with him much longer then you have. Well, when he decides to not skip school and shows up…"

"See you," said Sueko, striding over to where Akio stood—well, actually, he was leaning against the wall, but whatever!

When he saw the bloody tissue in Sueko's hands Akio actually looked concerned as he said, "I'm sorry."

"Um… about the lunch thing?" asked Sueko.

"Um… not really but I'm sorry about that too!" said Akio. "I meant about the whole throwing-the-ball-at-your-face thing. I was trying to get your attention but maybe I tried a little _too_ hard…"

"What are you, insane!" cried Sueko. "You think hitting a girl with a ball will get their attention!"

"It would have if your nose didn't get all bloody," said Akio, grinning.

Sueko sighed. "I'll never understand you…"

"That's not the point," said Akio. "The point is that you're the sexiest girl I've ever met and you should go out with me."

"WHAT!" cried Sueko.

"I beg your pardon?" said Akio, looking amused as he stepped away from the wall and just crossed his arms.

"Y—y—you called me sexy…" stuttered Sueko.

"You don't like that word? I can call you something else, like hot or—"

"No, no, that's okay!" said Sueko, waving a hand aside and laughing weakly.

"So what do you say?" asked Akio. "What to do something after school? Your choice!"

"Um…" said Sueko, not sure of how to put it.

"No?" said Akio, not sounding surprised or bummed out at all. "Keeping your eyes on some other guy?"

"No, nothing like that!" said Sueko.

"Hmm…" Suddenly Akio's eyes widened and his mouth formed a small "o" in surprise.

"What?" asked Sueko.

"It all makes sense now…" said Akio in wonderment, spreading his hands out dramatically with his eyes still wide.

"_What_!" cried Sueko.

"You're hung up on some other guy, aren't you!" cried Akio, pointing an accusing finger at Sueko and grinning madly, as though he was proud of himself for finally figuring out what had made Sueko upset earlier.

"Wh—what?" said Sueko—again.

"So, who is it?" Akio demanded to know. "Who dumped a beautiful girl such as yourself for no reason whatsoever?"

"God, I'm not amazingly beautiful or anything," muttered Sueko, turning pink.

"Seriously, who is he? I don't mind beating him up for you, if you'd like…"

"No, Akio, that's okay!" 'InuYasha would probably win the fight, anyways.'

"You sure? I really don't mind at all. A man like me has some muscle you know, and I think I'd manage—"

"I'll go!" said Sueko suddenly, crossing her arms.

Akio blinked a few times. "Come again?"

"I'll go!" repeated Sueko. "As long as I'm home after dinner, mom won't care."

"Really? Okay! So how about—"

Sueko didn't hear what Akio said next because just then a dodge ball had hit him on the shoulder and the teacher whistled for him to go in the "out" zone. The only reason Sueko didn't have to go before was because she got hit in the face so she didn't have to… plus the teacher didn't exactly notice.

As soon as Akio left Sueko rushed back to Tamika. She was throwing ball after ball at this one guy and kept calling him a jerk, a bastard, and a whole bunch of other things that Tamika probably shouldn't have been saying at school.

"What are you doing!" cried Sueko.

"Oh, hello, Sueko!" said Tamika, pausing with her ball throwing. The boy, noticing her lack of throwing a ball at him, hurried off to the other side of the gym.

"What are you doing!" she repeated.

"Oh. Um… He asked me out, I said no, then he started acting really weird…" said Tamika.

"You don't do that to boys who ask you out!" cried Sueko.

"You don't? I do it all the time, though…" said Tamika.

"Whatever…" muttered Sueko.

"Have you forgotten about doggy-eared boy yet?" asked Tamika, smiling.

"You really aren't helping…" muttered Sueko. 'This is like talking to a two-year-old!'

"You haven't then…" said Tamika. "Hmm… uh… I can't remember anything to help you with it, sorry. Which is really sad because I just watched this really cute romance movie the other day. I forgot the title, but the main character, which is some chick I also don't remember the name of, had—"

"Tamika, shut up for a minute!" cried Sueko.

"Ooh," said Tamika suddenly, "what happened now? Did something happen between you and Akio?"

"You were watching us!" cried Sueko.

"I just saw you talking," said Tamika, shrugging. "But somehow I'm thinking, 'Yes, something did happen!' So what was it!"

"Um… Akio asked me out…" said Sueko, turning bright red. "And I sorta said yes…"

Sueko quickly covered her ears and turned even redder as Tamika screamed in joy.

"Tamika, we're going to get yelled at by the teacher!" hissed Sueko.

"Oh, don't mind him! But this is so wonderful!" cried Tamika. "Hey, you could wear that one really pretty blue skirt that's all flow-y… or maybe you should just stick to that red shirt and the really short wavy black skirt… Dark colors are so better on you then light… and you can stop by my house so I can put your hair up all nice…"

Sueko sighed. What in the hell had she gotten herself into!

* * *

"That damn snake totally mutilated my sword!"

Yoshiko was sitting with the others around a campfire. InuYasha and Rin had been extremely quiet since Sesshomaru left early that day. The half tiger demon, on the other hand, was just full of energy. That was probably because the sun was setting, the half-moon would come up and she would become human. So in an attempt to burn off this energy effectively she had thought about training. But upon brining out her sword Yoshiko found out that the acid had almost burned a hole through the blade. Obviously fake tears feel down her cheeks.

"Well, you shouldn't have blocked the _acid_ with your _steel _sword," said InuYasha.

"What else was I supposed to do?" snapped Yoshiko.

"Um… run?" joked InuYasha.

"Me? Run? Yeah right!" laughed Yoshiko, putting her sword away.

"You'll just have to take it to Takeno," said Sango, shrugging.

In the amazement to everybody, Yoshiko gave a yelp and jumped behind InuYasha. The half dog demon raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. Just at that moment the moon came up. The tiger's ears disappeared to be replaced by human ears. Her orange hair turned black and the bright green eyes became brown.

"If I told that old man I broke my sword _right after_ he gave me a lecture about taking care of it…" Yoshiko stopped the shudder.

"Bad idea, huh?" laughed Sango.

"When do we get to meet this Takeno guy?" asked InuYasha as Yoshiko actually sat down at the fire next to Rin.

"If Sueko ever comes back we can all go and get my sword fixed," said Yoshiko.

"Why only if Sueko returns?" inquired Miroku.

"Because I think Takeno likes her," said Yoshiko. "Maybe he won't hurt me as much if she's there."

"Feh."

The group became quiet as everybody dared glances at InuYasha. Finally everybody's focus was drawn elsewhere as Rin sighed. Yoshiko put a comforting arm around her shoulders. Yoshiko was finding the girl's behavior odd. For the first half of the day she had been happy and active. When they had decided to stop for camp she had become quiet.

"I expected Lord Sesshomaru to be here by now," muttered Rin.

"What made you think that?" growled InuYasha. He obviously wasn't in the mood to talk about his brother. Or he was still touchy because Sueko had been brought up.

"He never leaves me alone for more than a couple of hours," said Rin.

"You're not alone!" said Yoshiko.

"Well… I guess not…" sighed Rin. Then she turned and hugged Yoshiko. "I just don't like seeing you two mad at each other!"

"Sesshomaru doesn't strike me as the type to apologize," said InuYasha darkly. "So don't go holding your breath."

"But…" said Rin, blinking a couple of times. "I think he may actually miss Lady Yoshiko! He talks more when she's around anyways."

"Damn! He's a pretty quiet guy," joked Yoshiko. When nobody said or did anything she sighed and stood up.

Once again nobody made to stop her, which just made it harder to leave. So all she did was step away from the campfire a small ways. As she reached the tree line a familiar laugh came ringing to her ears. It seemed as if InuYasha recognized it too because he jumped to his feet.

"What the hell, Rheda?" shouted Yoshiko, backing up.

"Be nice to you aunt," said a woman's voice as the tiger demon emerged from the forest. "My, my… you look almost—"

"Human?" suggested Yoshiko.

"Something like that," said Rheda. "Strange that you kept something like this from me. After all, you lived with me for two years."

"Do you really think I would trust you with this big of a secret?" asked Yoshiko. "Now, Rheda, what are you doing here?"

"Aunt!" snapped the tiger demon. Then she calmed down. "I thought that maybe you would like to meet a new friend of mine."

Yoshiko's hand instinctively went to her sword handle. But then she remembered the acid and swore under her breath. Just as she was about to grab her dagger, she heard somebody come from behind her. She side stepped the first attack and turned around. When she did so she came face to face with Sesshomaru. The thing that scared her most was the fact that his hazel eyes were glazed over. It was almost similar to Miroku's expression last time Rheda showed up.

Recovering quickly from missing, Sesshomaru grabbed Yoshiko around the neck. He started lifting her up when InuYasha rushed forward. Instead of choking her, he flung her into the running half-demon. As both hit the ground, Sesshomaru drew his sword. He then turned to the nearest target to him: an extremely frightened Rin. Immediately Yoshiko grabbed InuYasha's sword hilt and pulled out the Tetsusaiga. So with sword in one hand and dagger in the other she rushed over in time to block Sesshomaru's attack.

"It's not like the sword will transform for you!" cried InuYasha, getting to his feet gingerly.

Yoshiko managed to push Sesshomaru away before she replied saying, "I just need a sword that isn't going to break!"

As she parried another blow, InuYasha came over to make sure Rin was okay. Miroku and Sango rushed over to attack Rheda, but their weapons bounced off a shield. The tiger demon grinned, not turning to look at the two humans. Shippo, suddenly feeling brave, ran forward and cried out "FOX FIRE!" Amazingly the blue flames passed right through the shield that popped up to stop the attack and caught the end of Rheda's robes on fire. She kicked the little fox away as InuYasha turned back to see Yoshiko busily dodging attack after attack.

"You know it would probably be better if I were doing that!" he snapped.

"And let you kill him?" shouted Yoshiko, managing to push Sesshomaru farther from the campsite. "I don't think so!"

After a few more parries and dodges Yoshiko circled around Sesshomaru. Raising her dagger she managed to get him in the back of the left shoulder. Showing little sign of pain, Sesshomaru abandoned his sword and grabbed Yoshiko's wrist. Right away she tried to get away but his grip tightened. Suddenly she felt a burning where he was holding. She clenched her teeth and found enough strength to pull away.

"You're just not going to give up on getting this dagger, are you?" cried Yoshiko, watching her aunt out of the corner of her eye.

"It is mine," laughed Rheda.

"Want to bet?" yelled Yoshiko, kicking Sesshomaru in the chest and rushing to the tiger demon having gotten a good idea from watching Shippo. "Watch what you can do with _my_ dagger!"

A flash of flames burst from the tip of the small blade. Rheda cried out as they passed through her shield and covered her face with her arm. When she looked back up her eyes had changed from green to blue. Yoshiko grabbed the front of her aunt's robes with the hand holding the dagger. She then brought the Tetsusaiga up to the tiger demon's throat.

"You going to kill you own aunt?" inquired Rheda sweetly. "The person who took care of you for two years?"

"You mean the person who made my life hell for two years," hissed Yoshiko. "But no," she said, dropping Rheda to the ground. "I have no reason to kill you."

Her aunt glared up at her before getting up and leaving. When it seemed sure that the danger had passed, InuYasha strode over and grabbed his sword. If it had been any other day Yoshiko would have protested jokingly. But today was the half-moon. Today her aunt had tried to kill her… again. And today Rheda had turned Sesshomaru against her. This time, though, Yoshiko didn't hesitate even though she knew it was really him.

Slowly she started walking over to Sesshomaru who was kneeling. At first she was afraid that Rheda's spell hadn't worn off. But then she noticed that he was clutching his wounded shoulder. Leaning down slightly, Yoshiko attempted to look him in the eye. However, Sesshomaru seemed equally determined not to look at her. Despite this she knew that his eyes were clear, meaning he was himself. Because of this Yoshiko was very thankful.

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"What for?" growled Sesshomaru, waving her away as he stood up. "I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Yoshiko stepped away, blinking in surprise. He got to his feet finally and looked at her. Upon seeing the black hair his eyes went wide. She felt her cheeks go slightly pink and she ran a hand through her hair to cover this up.

"How long does this last?" asked Sesshomaru.

Yoshiko's eyes flickered to the moon.

"Until the sun comes up," said Yoshiko, shrugging.

Following her eye movement, Sesshomaru turned toward the moon. Recognition crossed his face and Yoshiko could see the pieces fall into place. She half expected him to yell at her for keeping a secret. Instead he turned toward her with a sort of smile on his face.

"This happens every half-moon?" he asked. Still a little shocked, Yoshiko only nodded. "And you've survived on your own with this… weakness?"

"How can being human be called a weakness?" cried Yoshiko. "I mean, look at Miroku and Sango. They kick butt most of the time."

"Leave us out of this!" said the monk, pretending to walk away.

"Don't tell me you like being human," InuYasha moaned to Yoshiko.

"And so what if I do?" said Yoshiko, putting her hands on her hips. When she did so the pain in her wrist came back.

As she was looking down at her burnt wrist, Sesshomaru grabbed her hand to pull it closer so he could see. Yoshiko's eyes went wide in surprise. When he let go of her hand it took her a minute to register that fact. Finally she turned away trying to keep herself from blushing too much.

Thankfully Sango came to the rescue. She walked over, took Yoshiko's arm and walked her over to the campfire. Then she set about cleaning the half-demon's wound and bandaging it. After her injury was all taken care of, the sun started to rise.

"I don't know which I like better," said Rin as Yoshiko started going back to her normal state, "the orange hair or the black."

"I know one thing," said Yoshiko, playing with the ends of her hair. "I really should cut my hair. It gets in the way when it's long."

Glancing up she noticed InuYasha and Sesshomaru eyeing each other. Hoping to stop a fight before it started, she got to her feet. But before she could say anything Sesshomaru started to leave. Rin smiled and started after him. Just as Yoshiko was starting to feel like she was about to cry, Sesshomaru stopped and glanced over his shoulder.

"You coming?" he asked.

"Wh—what?" said Yoshiko. She looked at Sango then to InuYasha. Neither made any sign of stopped her so she smiled and started after Sesshomaru. She was so glad that she didn't have to worry about him being mad at her anymore.

* * *

Sueko sighed, hugging herself tighter against the cold. She knew she should be feeling happy right now but all she felt was guilty… oh, and a bit of an idiot too.

'Why didn't I except Akio's offer to take me home!' Sueko thought. 'His way home would be a lot warmer. Have I forgotten it's February!'

So that took care about why she was feeling like a cold idiot right about now (her red shirt Tamika made her wear might look nice but it was awfully thin, and even the sweater she was wearing over it wasn't helping!), but what about the fact that she felt guilty? There was only one reason for it, but it made absolutely no sense! Why would going out on a date with Akio make Sueko feel guilty when she wasn't with someone else—particularly InuYasha—and this someone else didn't even like her back?

Sueko looked up at the sky, noticing that the sun was starting to set and the pinks and purples mixed together with the oranges and remaining blue that was left behind. With no money for the bus (another fact that made her feel like a fool) she was forced to walk home but at this rate she'd never get back in time for dinner!

She looked at the windows filled with merchandise to her right. A bookstore… a restaurant… some computer store… it was when Sueko reached a CD store that the door to the store opened and she had to stop in her tracks before the door hit her nose—which had suffered through enough damage that day. And then she noticed a familiar face walk out of it…

"Keitaro?"

"Sueko?" cried Keitaro, pausing as the door slammed shut from the wind and surprised to see Sueko standing in the middle of Tokyo all alone. Noticing the fancy outfit he asked, "What's the occasion?" with his eyebrows raised. Sueko noticed that he was wearing his glasses… for some reason she found that he looked a lot cuter with glasses then without…

"Oh… I was out…" said Sueko, turning a little pink, "with Akio… he sort of asked me out again and I couldn't say no, so…"

"Okay," said Keitaro, hugging his coat closer to himself. He laughed weakly. "It's awfully cold out… Are you sure you're fine in that sweater of yours?"

Sueko turned pink again just after she'd gotten over the first blushing-thing. "Oh, I'm fine…" she managed to mumble, smiling weakly.

"You sure? It's like twenty eight point five degrees outside and your saying you're fine in an outfit like _that_!" cried Keitaro.

"What's your point?" mumbled Sueko, turning more and more red.

"Just saying…" said Keitaro, shrugging.

After an awkward silence in which Sueko felt more and more nervous as the two continued to stand there by the CD store, Sueko said to Keitaro, "Well, I suppose I should be heading home… I have to be home before dinner and I'm probably already late…"

With a sigh Sueko walked forward towards home without another look at Keitaro, but stopped when she felt something heavy and warm fall on her shoulders and Keitaro saying from right behind her, "Here, you can borrow this…"

His voice was so low and quiet and made the back of her neck warm where his warm breath hit her that Sueko's eyes widened and her heart beat quickened in pace as she spun around to face Keitaro, only to notice that he was just wearing a long sleeve shirt… because she was wearing _his_ coat…

Speechless, all Sueko could manage was a quiet, "What?"

"Here, I'll walk you home," said Keitaro suddenly, moving over to the side of Sueko instead of behind her. "Your house is that-a-way, right?"

"Uh huh…" 'What in the hell is going on? Why is Keitaro acting so weird!'

"So," said Keitaro—pretty casually considering the weird moment they just had, "were you ever planning on giving me back my _Rurouni Kenshin _DVD?"

"Huh?" said Sueko. Then she remembered that she had "borrowed" it without asking… Sueko laughed. "How'd you know!"

"I always know when something's missing in my room," said Keitaro, shrugging. "It took me awhile because I'm not really into Kenshin anymore. I was in seventh grade but after awhile I got bored with it… but I figured it out eventually. I knew it wasn't Tamika because she doesn't like _Rurouni Kenshin_… apparently it confuses her."

"That doesn't surprise me," said Sueko. "So if I give you back _Rurouni Kenshin_ can I borrow _Chobits_?"

"I don't know… You didn't ask the first time…" said Keitaro, grinning.

"Oh, shut up!" cried Sueko, laughing.

"I don't know," said Keitaro. "How about I think about it?"

"You do that, then!" said Sueko. She suddenly felt happy and content despite the fact that before she had been totally nervous and awkward just moments before.

It was quiet again after that, except this silence was actually a comfortable silence. Sueko couldn't help but look all around her, having never really been out around Tokyo much since she moved there in September thanks to the amount of time spent in Feudal Japan… not that she was complaining. She met cool people, discovered she had powers she had never even imagined before, and gone on really cool adventures, even if she did get a few cuts and scratches (okay, that might be an understatement… she'd been stabbed twice already!).

Now that she started thinking about it, Sueko realized she had been in her timeframe for a long time… nearly two weeks, which was way longer then she'd ever stayed before… Or was it three weeks? See, she had been gone for so long she couldn't even remember _how_ long! Last time she was there in Feudal Japan Yoshiko was gone… was she still gone? How were things with Sesshomaru? Would they actually get together or would he just be an evil jerk and kill her or something?

Because she was too busy thinking and not really paying attention to what was right it front of her it wasn't too much of a surprise for Sueko to bump into someone, but in backing away and saying a bunch of hurried "Sorry!"s and "Beg your pardon!"s she got a closer look at the person's face and couldn't help but gasp and freeze in her tracks.

"Are you all right?' the lady she had bumped into asked kindly.

"Y—Y—Yoshiko?" stuttered Sueko, putting a hand at her chest in hopes to have it stop beating so hard. "What are you doing here!"

"I beg your pardon," said the lady kindly, "but I don't know a Yoshiko. You must have mistaken me for someone else…"

With a closer look Sueko still thought this woman looked like Yoshiko—at least, a Yoshiko with black hair, brown eyes and modern day clothes. But then again, the nose was sort of different…and maybe it was because she'd never seen Yoshiko with black hair before (but that wasn't too weird; Sueko already knew Yoshiko turned into a human on the half moon… just like InuYasha did… But it was around the time of the half moon) but somehow it was different too…

"Sorry! I guess you're right…" mumbled Sueko, bowing down and hurrying over to Keitaro, who was leaning against the wall of a stationary store with an amused look on his face.

"Shut up," mumbled Sueko, turning more red and dragging on Keitaro's sleeve as she started walking again.

"I didn't say anything!" said Keitaro, but he started laughing like he couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I said shut up!"

"I'm not saying anything! I'm only laughing, which isn't technically saying anything because you're not forming words…"

"I'm sorry I just had a nearly fatal heart attack and would prefer if you didn't make fun of me!" cried Sueko.

"I'm not making fun of you," said Keitaro, grinning. It was so obvious that he was trying extremely hard not to laugh. "Why'd you almost get yourself killed by running into some random person for, anyways?"

"I didn't mean to!" cried Sueko. "I was just… like… thinking…"

"About…" said Keitaro, putting his hands behind his back and putting his face close to Sueko's mischievously.

Sueko stumbled back from Keitaro a little bit, startled, and he just stood up straight with that same expression on his face. It was amusement… and also a bit cocky… it was so unlike Keitaro… it was so weird! But she managed to clear her throat and go, "Nothing important, really…"

"Oh, don't talk that way!" moaned Keitaro, shoving his hands in his jeans pocket and walking forward again. Sueko rushed to his side to catch up. "Have more confidence in yourself!"

"But… but…" said Sueko, blinking. "Since when did I have confidence issues?"

"It's called sarcasm," said Keitaro. "'A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.'"

"That just makes it sound so depressing," said Sueko. "And it isn't helping with my confidence issues that I suddenly have.

"You're right," said Keitaro. "Maybe someone should put in a better definition in the dictionary…"

"Have you—erm—_memorized_ the whole entire dictionary or something?" Sueko couldn't help but ask.

"Uh… I don't know," said Keitaro, shrugging.

"You're just saying that 'cause you have, aren't you!" cried Sueko, pointing an accusing finger at Keitaro.

"Uh… no comment…" muttered Keitaro. When Sueko went into a fit of giggles he cried out while putting his hands at his waist, "Hey, you insulted me!"

"Who ever said that?" teased Sueko.

Keitaro laughed, putting his arms to his sides. "Look at us! We've resorted to childish teasing!"

"So?" said Sueko. "Insulting your friends is so much fun!"

"That sounds so mean…" said Keitaro.

"So does your sarcasm definition," said Sueko, crossing her arms.

"True, true…" said Keitaro in agreement.

The silence returned again, and it wasn't uncomfortable either… like the last one! But without the sound of Keitaro's voice or of her laughter she caught bits and pieces of conversations as she walked by the many groups of people on the streets of Tokyo.

"No way! Hojo asked you out? That's so awesome!"

"How'd you do on yesterday's math test? I so failed it!"

"Thanks for the flowers!"

"You liked them? Great, they were my dad's idea..."

A sudden slapping noise startled Sueko, and she turned around to see a long, dark haired lady glaring at the man standing next to her. He had a red mark on his face and the woman's hand was up like she had just slapped him.

The man wore this silly grin on his face as the woman cried, "You _pervert_!"

"I didn't mean to!" cried the man innocently, holding his hands up.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure you weren't thinking when you put your hand _there_ because if you _were_ thinking you wouldn't have done it!"

"But—"

"This isn't even the place to _do_ that sort of thing! There are children around here, for goodness sakes, Maku!"

Keitaro, turning his head to see what Sueko had been looking at, said, "There are weird people around here these days… sometimes I worry about the human race as a whole…"

"Yeah…" said Sueko distractedly. Why was she seeing her friends in Modern day! Did she miss them _that_ much!

"Isn't this your house?" asked Keitaro suddenly, making Sueko stop suddenly. She looked up at the long stairway that should look familiar by now but still didn't look like home in her mind.

"Oh… Yeah…" said Sueko, not wanting to part with Keitaro. He had been very good company, even if the coat thing was really weird. Speaking of that thought…

"Here!" said Sueko, pulling the heavy thing off her. "You can have it back now."

"Oh yeah…" said Keitaro, taking it and putting it back on. "I'm really dense. I completely forgot about it!"

Sueko didn't think Keitaro was telling the truth that he had _forgotten_ but it was nice anyways. With a wave and a cry of "Good-bye!" Sueko rushed up the steps back to her house.

* * *

"Could she possibly be the one that pretended to be us?" asked Sesshomaru when he finally let Yoshiko bandage his wound. Again and again he played in his mind Emiko's blue eyes turning green.

"Unless I'm much mistaken, Rheda can only do slight physical changes. So she could make her hair a different color or make herself look older… but like she would," said Yoshiko. "So there would be no possible way that she could look like you."

"Maybe there were two…" suggested Sesshomaru.

"Not likely," said Yoshiko, finishing up. "Rheda is pretty good at keeping her new appearance. The person who attacked me was having trouble keeping their eyes hazel. Besides, I think Rheda's natural eye color is some sort of green."

She sighed and sat all the way down. Sesshomaru saw her glance over at sleeping Rin as he stood up. He thought about walking away so that he could rest. But when she made no sign of sleeping he sat down next to her instead.

"They had blue eyes?" he asked, continuing their conversation.

"Yeah… I can see why you thought it was Rheda," sighed Yoshiko. "She likes having blue eyes. But I noticed she had bright green eyes when she attacked…"

"Which means?" prompted Sesshomaru.

"Well… that you have a weakness of some sort for green eyes," explained Yoshiko. "Or she wouldn't have been able to control you."

Sesshomaru recalled the kiss between him and Emiko and hoped that Yoshiko would never know. Lately he hadn't found his thoughts so strange and he hadn't been trying to ignore them as much. There were still time when he found himself thinking something so crazy he would get angry with himself. Next to him, Sesshomaru felt Yoshiko starting to get uncomfortable. He wondered, for probably the tenth time, if he should have brought her along.

"Are you missing your friends?" asked Sesshomaru.

"Well…" said Yoshiko, looking over at him, "one of them at least. But she left for her home a couple of weeks ago. I expected her to be back by now… Except I guess InuYasha hurt her feelings pretty badly. But not on purpose! Though her leaving kind of made InuYasha really depressed… and I'm just rambling."

"I'm not stopping you," said Sesshomaru. "If you wish to see your friends, you can go."

"But I want to see you!" Yoshiko blurted out. She turned pink and looked away. "And… besides. I can't get to her home. It's in another time. But one of these days I'll figure out a way to get her to come back."

"Very well," said Sesshomaru shortly, in a way glad that she wouldn't be leaving.

As the night wore on Yoshiko's eyes closed. Sesshomaru found himself looking at her waist long, silky, orange hair. Gently he ran his fingers through a bit of her stray hair. She shifted slightly in her sleep but didn't wake up. He lingered with his hand in her hair before decided to stand up. Walking a short distance away, Jaken finally showed up.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" the imp cried. "Why did you leave me behind?"

Ignoring Jaken, Sesshomaru kept walking. When the imp continued to follow and talk, he kicked Jaken. That got the message across and he was able to walk alone. Though it was strange not to have Rin or Yoshiko around it gave him time to think. But what it was he wanted to think about didn't become apparent for a while.

"I'm sure my trick wouldn't work twice," came a familiar woman's voice.

Sesshomaru stopped and turned to see Emiko sitting on a log. She smiled sweetly at him, her eyes a slight green. But they weren't as bright as Yoshiko's. Her long black hair was draped over her shoulder and her legs were crossed in a lady-like fashion.

"But I'm sure if I did look exactly like Yoshiko you wouldn't be able to kill me," said Emiko quite seriously. "Why would that be?"

"You tell me. That's why you're here," growled Sesshomaru.

"First, you have a question for me," said Emiko, her smile melting away to be replaced by a serious expression.

Without stopping to think why she might know he asked, "Why is it you have two names?"

"Every tiger demon does. One is a name that you can share with anyone. The other is a name only shared with family and those you trust," explained Emiko slowly. "Seeing as how I'm not a parent I don't exactly know which order you choose names. I'm guessing it depends on your preference. But I'm sure Yoshiko doesn't know the power in her little nickname Kane gave her—Kane being her father."

Immediately Sesshomaru understood which name was which. The only reason Yoshiko called her aunt Rheda was because they were family. But then that didn't matter. The answer to his first question was irrelevant. All he cared about was the answer to the question the first had brought up. But Emiko beat him to it.

"And only she can share it with you," said Emiko, almost sadly. "But don't expect her to. She's never been too fond of demons of any kind and probably is unwilling to share her personal life. Besides, she probably doesn't know anything about our double names."

For some reason this anger Sesshomaru and in an attempt to stay calm, he walked closer to Emiko. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look. When she realized what was going on she started laughing. After a while she stopped and gave Sesshomaru a smug smile. He chose to ignore it.

"Why are you tell me all this?" he asked.

"Because I trust you," said Emiko, shrugging. "And after that stunt I pulled there are some thing about you I know. In fact I'm still learning a few thing and you don't even know it!"

"How so?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Now, haven't we gotten a little off track," said Emiko, looking at her fingernails on one hand. "I was here to get from you why it is that you would be unable to kill my niece. Because she's the only one I know of with bright green eyes. Well, except my sister but I haven't see _her_ for 20 years. So, you tell me: what are you feelings for Yoshiko?"

Immediately Sesshomaru went over all his strange thoughts: how he was unable to harm even someone that looked like her when he knew it was Yoshiko; why he became worried when he knew she was injured; the reason he wished to touch her hair, look into her eyes and have her smile at him. It all came screaming at him in three specific words. But in the end he couldn't bring himself to say it. So he turned and started walking away. Emiko sighed and stood up.

"Sesshomaru," she said quietly, causing him to stop. "She'll never really love you back. She's been though quite a bit of heartache already."

He turned around to look at her, to tell her that she was jumping to conclusions. But the look on her face… she looked sad and serious. This wasn't something she was telling him for her own benefit. Emiko seriously wanted him to know this.

"Of course, I don't know her as well as I know you," said Emiko, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. "Who knows, something may change how she feels about her life. Anyways, I have better thing to do. So we'll just say that I owe you one so if you need help—"

"I won't be needing help," snapped Sesshomaru.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," laughed Emiko. "I may be a bitch but I know quite about love, something in which you need all the help you can get."

With that she leapt up into the trees and disappeared. Subconsciously Sesshomaru noticed the sun starting to rise, but he didn't really care. He just stood there not really looking at anything, thinking over what Emiko had said. There were times when it all made sense and he was thankful for an explanation. Then he told himself it was all foolishness. Finally he gave up trying to think about it.

The sun had completely risen when he returned to where he had left the others. Rin was up and about while Yoshiko was standing up, stretching. She turned toward Sesshomaru. Upon seeing his face she frowned and blinked a couple of times.

"Hey," she said. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied.

"You sure? Because you listened to me talk on and on last night," continued Yoshiko. "If there's something you need to talk about—"

"There isn't," said Sesshomaru, surprised by his own lie. But really, what would he tell her? "Let's go."

"If you say so," muttered Yoshiko.

'Damn! How is it that every time I finally get to see her again something comes up that makes me think it's better if she leaves?' thought Sesshomaru starting off without waiting to see if anybody would follow. They always would, unquestioningly. And a thought crossed his mind: what if one of these days he led them into danger?

* * *

Keitaro sighed as he closed the door shut to the apartment, tired from all those stairs and, somehow, feeling emotionally drained as well… He knew _why_ he felt all weird inside but at the same time he was trying to ignore it… while all at once trying to think of something to do about it…

"Wait…" said Tamika as Keitaro collapsed onto the couch. It took him a second to figure out why, but then he realized _Wolf's Rain_ was on and Tamika wanted Keitaro to wait for a commercial break before he said anything. Sighing loudly, pretending that the wait was extremely annoying or something, he pulled his coat off and put his feet on the coffee table, careful not to bump the plate full of left over chicken Tamika had sitting there.

Once the show was over Tamika reached over to get a tissue from her Kleenex box, blew her nose, and then said, "What?" though not in the mean way.

"What happened?" asked Keitaro. "I mean, on your show. Did someone die again?"

Tamika sniffed. "This one girl was giving Toboe these sausages because he was hungry… it was _so_ sweet! And sad! And Toboe is so cute looking, even when he _is_ a wolf!"

"Uh huh…" said Keitaro. "That's it?"

"Pretty much…" said Tamika. "So, did you get my CD or not!"

"Why couldn't you have gotten it yourself?" sighed Keitaro, digging into his coat pocket until he found Tamika's CD.

"_Wolf's Rain_ was on!" cried Tamika, outraged that Keitaro didn't remember.

"Oh. Right…" said Keitaro distractedly. He wasn't really in the mood for a conversation…

"Something on your mind, Keitaro?" said Tamika quite seriously, which was really weird.

"Um…" How weird would it be to tell his little sister—okay, she was only two hours younger then him, but _still_—about some weird crush he was having on a girl who just got dumped by a guy she liked? And how to word it exactly?

"Hmm…" said Tamika, putting her face closer to Keitaro's and looking at him critically. Keitaro leaned back slightly to put some space between the two but she just moved closer… this continued until eventually Keitaro was leaning against the arm of the couch and was about to fall off it if he wasn't careful.

"Are you—" started Tamika, but was interrupted by the phone ringing—thank god!—so instead she ignored Keitaro, rushed over to the phone and said, "Hello! Hamasaki residents! What may I do for you today?"

Trying not to laugh at Tamika's typical telephone greeting, he picked up a random magazine (last months Shonen Jump) and flipped through it, once and a while catching a few words or phrases from the phone conversation. After about five or so minutes Tamika hung up and plopped back down on the couch to say, "Guess what?"

"What?" asked Keitaro, tossing the magazine on the coffee table and completely forgetting about the plate of chicken (though thankfully his precious Shonen Jump didn't fall on it).

"Sueko's going away again," said Tamika sadly.

"What?" said Keitaro, feeling as though he wasn't really hearing right.

"Sueko's going away again," repeated Tamika. "Like, down the rabbit hole to hang out with Yoshiko and kimono dude…"

"What?" cried Keitaro, but this time it was out of shock, not confusion.

"Keitaro?" said Tamika timidly as he got up and hurriedly started putting on his bulky coat.

"I've got to go. Tell dad I'm sorry if I'm late for dinner."

He left the apartment before he could hear Tamika say, "But dad's working late again, so you wouldn't be late for dinner…"

* * *

'Could the subway be any slower!' thought Keitaro in frustration as he ran up the stairs to Sueko's house two at a time. Eventually he reached the front door and didn't even wait to catch his breath before knocking on the door—maybe a bit too loudly and too many times, but like he really gave a damn!

"Hello?" said the lady who opened the door.

Keitaro guessed she was Sueko's mom but didn't give it much thought as he said between gasps for breath, "Is Sueko home?"

"Um… nope, sorry. You just missed her. When she gets back I'll tell her you stopped by," she said kindly.

"Oh," was all Keitaro could say.

"I'm awfully sorry. But like I said, I'll tell her when she comes back you came! Your Tamika's brother, right?"

"Yeah," said Keitaro, not really paying attention. "Sorry, I've gotta go… thanks anyways."

"All right…" said Sueko's mom.

Keitaro walked back towards the stairs slowly, waiting to hear the front door close. When it did he immediately spun around and headed towards the shrine as fast as he could.

He couldn't help but remember the time when Sueko was yet again explaining to them about Feudal Japan…

"_So when do I get to meet dog-boy?" Tamika asked, despite the fact she was supposed to be doing her math homework._

"_Um… I don't know…" said Sueko thoughtfully. "Oh, it's be so cool if you could go through…"_

"_What do you mean by 'if we could'?" Keitaro couldn't help asking._

"_Well, only InuYasha, me, and Kagome have been able to go through the well… no one else has been able to…" explained Sueko._

"_That just sucks!" complained Tamika. "Wait, who's Kagome?"_

"_Oh… This girl that died…" said Sueko. "I don't know her though. She was, like, InuYasha's girlfriend or something. I don't know. Hey, have you done problem five yet because it really confuses me…"_

'Oh, screw it!' thought Keitaro. 'Maybe she was wrong! Maybe other people can go through the well too. Maybe they can go if they're desperate enough!'

Despite his desperateness, Keitaro hesitated before jumping into the well. Standing before it, it looked pretty deep… and sort of a dangerous thing to recklessly jump into… But he _had_ to tell Sueko… he just _had _to…

So taking a deep breath and putting on a brave face, he climbed into the well until his hands were the only things holding himself there as they held onto the edge… but not being very strong he found it hard to keep a tight grip and hold his weight so Keitaro let go sooner then he wanted and found himself falling and falling…

…and then landing roughly on the hard well floor. He could feel his heart sinking in disappointment, knowing automatically it didn't work. But, putting on a hopeful face he tried climbing up the well, praying to find something 15th century-ish as soon as he reached the surface. He only found himself in the shrine once more.

'Maybe they had the shrine way back then,' thought Keitaro, but there was doubt filled even in his own thoughts. Walking outside, he immediately heard the sounds of cars going by, and seeing skyscrapers scattered all around the distance.

He wasn't in Feudal Japan. He was still in modern day Tokyo.

He was too late. Too late to explain to Sueko… to tell her that…

"What is wrong with me!" Keitaro muttered as he shoved his hands in his pockets and wandered back towards home. "I can't even _think_ of the word! It's only four letters long. It means nothing, really, if you think about it… Except for now I guess it sort of does… I can't go liking a girl who has yet to get over the guy who dumped her!"

Pausing in his tracks, he added before walking again, "What the hell am I doing, talking to myself? Don't I have better things to do with my time then _talk_ to myself!"

* * *

Wow, like my ending? I am extremely bored and can't think of what to write for the fan fic at the moment so I'm going to reply to all the reviewers. And since I don't remember where I left off I'll just review EVERYONE again! Hope you don't mind!

**Icygirl:** Thanks for not finding our fan fic annoying after twenty-one chapters! The sad part is that we're probably barely at the middle of it… so would that make the whole thing 40-50 chapters by the time we're done with it? What a scary thought… And with 28 chapters on word document—I know, I'm really behind on my editing. Don't kill me about it! I've spent that time _writing_, so you can't totally hate me… right?—the whole entire fan fic is like 318 pages… so maybe by 600 pages it'll be finished… which is about the same size as a Harry Potter book… Wow, that's just really freaky.

Hmm… I'm babbling again, aren't I? I do that too much… Let's move on, then, shall we?

**FullMoon-insanity:** You're only on Chapter One… which I didn't get at first because I could have sworn I've read your name before. But then I figured out I'm reading your fan fic… okay, I'm not that smart today, shut up! Am I the only one who finds Kikyo NOT annoying? I mean, sometimes she is but I don't HATE her or anything. But the Japanese voice is soooo much better then the English one. But at least you aren't planning my death or anything because I killed off Kagome…

**element hanyou:** Yes, love _does_ stink, doesn't it? _Laughs_ But it has a happy ending in the end! Well, not for Sueko and InuYasha because they constantly bicker… but oh well. Can you really expect Sueko to _not_ get impatient with InuYasha once and a while?

**KikyoHater13:** Wow, another Kikyo-hater. Poor Kikyo… Hmm… I really can't think of what to say about your reply except for maybe you should READ MORE!

**peachpit: **I still think your username is cute. But you haven't replied since the last four… so if I say anything about your replies I'll just repeat myself, and I repeat myself enough as it already is.

**faithful taijiya:** Ditto with the repeating thing. But your reply was appreciated! Now reply more!

**BlackTearsOfDarkness:** Ditto again with the repeating thing. Hmm… I have yet to read your other fan fics… Maybe I should go do that… but I'll post this first.

And, oh, hmm… Yep, that's all the whittle repliers! I suppose I must shut up—or stop typing, whatever!—and write the fan fic some more… even if I can't think of anything… _sigh_ anyways, bye-bye!


	23. Sesshomaru's Problems

**AUTHOR'S** **NOTES**  
La, la, la… Fluffy-sama just has so much _fun_ in this post! He runs into Yoshiko's aunt and gets a big, annoying lecture from her and then he's left to deal with his feelings… then Yoshiko's aunt shows up _again_! And on top of this Yoshiko is back with the others figuring out how in the hell she's going to get Sueko back to the Feudal Era. 

Wait, why am I even explaining this post to you people? How about you just read it! I have nothing else to say anyways since I'm posting this on the same day as the other chapter before it.

I know the title of the chapter sucks. Shut up about it. I suck at chapter titles!

**DISCLAIMER**  
I don't own anything from the InuYasha manga or TV series. I'm just borrowing it for the fan fic. Same with Ravyn. And that's all I don't own… just read the damn fan fic already!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Sesshomaru's Problems**

It wasn't fair! She just couldn't be happy. Sure, it was great to hang out with Rin and see Sesshomaru, but she missed Sueko. How long had it been since she had last saw the girl? Two weeks? Three even? Besides, after only one day things had become awkward between her and Sesshomaru. There were times when he almost looked sad. Then later the look in his eye would make her think he was angry. She also noticed, when he thought she was sleeping, him pacing as if considering saying something. But he never did. In fact he hardly said anything, leaving the girls to do what they wanted. So maybe it was about time that she got going.

"So… what you thinking about?" asked Yoshiko, walking up behind Sesshomaru. When he finally turned to look at her, she continued. "Did I do something?"

"Excuse me?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, you've been awfully quiet lately. And I don't really like awkwardness. It…" started Yoshiko. Then she paused and took a deep breath. "It makes me feel like I did something wrong. So have I?"

Almost immediately Sesshomaru muttered, "No."

"That's good," sighed Yoshiko, smiling slightly. "So it'll be okay if I leave for a little?"

"You need my permission to leave?" asked Sesshomaru, turning away slightly.

"Well, if I had done something wrong and just left…" said Yoshiko, "we'd be right back where we started, wouldn't we?"

"If you wish to leave you may," muttered Sesshomaru, turning away completely. "There's no need to stay somewhere you don't want to."

"B—but… I do want to be here…" muttered Yoshiko sadly.

But he was already walking away and if he heard, he made no sign of hearing. Yoshiko suddenly felt bad and wondered if maybe she should stay a few extra days… but no, she really needed to see Sueko! And maybe Sesshomaru would calm down a little if she weren't around, because she really couldn't say that she even believed him. It didn't seem like he was all right. And it had to be something she had done. Even Rin admitted that he was more quiet than usual. Not even Jaken believed him when Sesshomaru said he was fine.

Yoshiko sighed and walked over to Rin, who was patting Aun. Halfway there the little girl turned around and grinned at her. Yoshiko gave a small smiled but Rin still seemed to catch on to how she was really feeling. The girl frowned and gave the half-demon a hug. In the spur of the moment Yoshiko picked her up so she could hug her better.

"Are you okay?" asked Rin.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Yoshiko half-truthfully. "It's just I have to go for a while."

"Again!" said Rin, pulling away slightly so she could look at Yoshiko. "Why can't you just stay?"

"I haven't seen one of my friends in a long time and I really miss her," said Yoshiko, pulling Rin in for a hug again. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sesshomaru watching. "Keep an eye on him for me, please," she whispered in Rin's ear before putting the girl down again.

"Come back soon!" said Rin as Yoshiko grabbed up her stuff.

"Bye," she said, turning to the place she knew Sesshomaru to be standing.

He obviously thought he was well hidden because when Yoshiko looked at him his eyes were side in surprise. She then walked off, waving good-bye to Rin. The day wore on and the silence beat down upon Yoshiko. Being alone left time for her to think. She tried to figure out Sesshomaru's strange behavior but her thoughts kept wandered back to Sueko. It seemed kind of hard to be worried about something so silly when she really wanted to see her friend. She hadn't realized how much she missed the strange girl until she stopped to think about it.

Around noon she overheard some of her friend's voices. The way they were yelling, they were fighting a demon. Quickly Yoshiko ran through the trees until she came in view of InuYasha fighting an ugly three-eyed-twenty-tentacle-monster. She hid in the bushes and looked around for Sueko. The girl wasn't there. The demon must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Beside her the bushes started moving and out popped…

"What are you hiding for?" asked Shippo.

Afraid that InuYasha would hear them, Yoshiko grabbed the little fox demon and ran off. Shippo tried yelling but she put a hand over his mouth. Once they were a fair distance away and close to the well, Yoshiko slowed down. Soon Shippo gave up trying to yell. Finally she decided it was safe to let him sit on her shoulder.

"What did you do that for?" snapped Shippo.

"I didn't want InuYasha to know I was here," explained Yoshiko. "Because I'm hoping to figure out a way to get Sueko back."

"But InuYasha and Sueko are the only ones who can go through the well!" cried Shippo, as if he had already thought of this countless times.

"I know what!" said Yoshiko exasperatedly. "Despite that it's probably best if InuYasha didn't go through the well."

"He wouldn't anyways…" mumbled Shippo. "Stupid InuYasha! He was always making Kagome go back through the well. Then he would be too stubborn to go get her!"

"How did you get her to come back?" inquired Yoshiko.

"Well, I tried going through to get her with a Shikon Jewel Shard once," said Shippo thoughtfully. "That didn't work out too well but Kagome did come through. I guess she could sense the shard even though she was in her time."

For a minute Yoshiko thought about it. It sounded like something she could do but Sueko didn't sense the jewel. Besides, the jewel was gone now so it wouldn't help. So what could she put in the well that Sueko would sense? When she finally figured it out she started laughing. Shippo looked at her as if worried. When Yoshiko started hugging him, Shippo became a little frightened.

"Are you alright?" asked the little kitsune.

"Shippo you're my hero!" cried Yoshiko, running toward the well only holding onto the little fox's hand.

"Glad to hear it?" said Shippo in confusion. "Why?"

"You'll see," said Yoshiko mischievously. "I can't wait to see Sueko!"

"Hope she brings her GameBoy…" muttered Shippo. But Yoshiko was too excited to hear him.

* * *

'When my parents were deciding where to move to why'd they pick the one house with a gazillion stairs to climb up!' thought Sueko, urging her aching legs to climb the many steps to home. It might help that she was wearing Mary-Jane's and a skirt but whatever.

Sighing, her thoughts lurked again to her friends from Feudal Japan—what were they doing without her? Did they miss her as much as she missed them? Or were they too busy fighting a million demons… or something of the sorts? Was Yoshiko spending all her time with Sesshomaru or did she eventually go back to the others? Did anything major happen between them while she was gone? Did anything major happen to _anyone_ while she was gone?

And what about InuYasha? As much hurt and anger she felt towards him, Sueko couldn't help but miss him. In some weird, messed up sort of way, that is. This was sort of _her_ fault, not his. Well, it's his fault he made out with Kagome, but it was _her_ fault for making such a big deal out of things… okay, she had feelings for the guy. Did he even know? Obviously not or he'd do something about it. He'd have shown up by now to bring her back to Feudal Japan!

At this thought Sueko stopped walking—or dragging her sore feet up the steps, for her shoes were making her feet hurt—and squinted against the setting sun to see the shrine. For no reason really, just for some reason… but then she saw the sword and remembered that she had put it there so InuYasha _wouldn't_ come after her… Well, it _had_ worked, hadn't it?

Sueko was about to turn her head and focus once more on climbing up the many steps but just as she was about to take her eyes away from the shrine she saw something that took all the breath out of her.

The sword—the sword stuck between the door handles so no one could get through—it was glowing… _blue_…

"Holy crap!" cried Sueko, running up the stairs as fast as her mutilated feet would let her. Once she had reached the shrine doors she pulled the sword from the door and looked at it critically, but no matter which angle she looked at it the sword remained the same—glowing blue.

Holding it in front of her, a million different thoughts went around Sueko's head. Was a demon in _her_ time, with a shrine stone! Was something wrong with the others?

But just as she thought these panicked thoughts Sueko felt herself calming down, which was extremely weird. Then one solid thought entered her head: _It's okay, no one's hurt; someone just needs you…_

'What the hell is wrong with me!' Sueko thought. She looked down at her sword again, only to see that it wasn't blue anymore. Shaking her head, she set it down and tried to forget the weird thoughts and feelings, but just as she set it down and turned to walk away, it turned blue—_again_.

"Are you trying to say something?" Sueko asked the sword. "Because you're just damn confusing!"

'Come to think of it,' Sueko thought to herself, 'Yoshiko and me never really learned much from Takeno about my sword… In fact, we know absolutely nothing about it except it senses shrine stones and it did weird things like produce blue bubble force field things… What if it _is_ talking to me?'

_Someone needs you…_ said the solid thought again. Yet Sueko knew for some reason that this "someone" wasn't in any immediate danger… So what was the big deal?

"Sword… thing? Would you shut up if I take like ten minutes to pack? And then I'll figure out whatever the hell you want and you can stop talking to me!" cried Sueko. At this, the sword stopped glowing again…

Maybe _some_ inanimate objects had a brain in their head. Except swords don't really have heads…

* * *

"Hey, mom!" cried Sueko, closing the front door a bit too loudly and shooing away Neko the cat with her foot gently.

"In the kitchen," was her mom's shouting answer, so Sueko rushed into there to meet her smiling mom. Well, she wasn't just smiling; she looked… well, a bit _proud_ for some reason…

"Had fun?" her mom asked, setting down the spoon she was using to stir the mysterious contents of the pot on the stove—but it smelled like spaghetti sauce to Sueko—on the counter and crossing her arms.

"Uh… sure…" said Sueko. Somehow she had a feeling her mother knew she had done a little more than just "hang out with my friends" like she had told her mother after school she would be doing.

"That's it?" said her mom, her smile widening. "It's my daughter's first date and that's all I get?"

"It wasn't exactly a date…" muttered Sueko, turning red.

"Well, it wasn't a total disaster, was it?" asked her mother. "If it was you'd probably walk in here with tears to your eyes, wouldn't you?"

Sueko found that last thing kind of funny because when she had come back from Feudal Japan just after the whole InuYasha/Kagome thing she had just been crying… but after being at Tamika's she had calmed down so it probably looked to her parents that she had been all right.

"No… Actually, it was pretty fun," said Sueko truthfully. But she couldn't help but think back to her walk home with Keitaro… that was actually more fun then her date with Akio. Then again, she and Keitaro had lots more in common. Not that Akio was boring or anything. He just wasn't really into anime as much as Sueko, who had watched quite a lot because she rarely had anything else to do. Sure, he'd watched all the typical anime, but he wasn't really into _Chobits_ or _Rurouni Kenshin_ like Sueko was… so they were left to talk about normal everyday teenage stuff—which was never that interesting to begin with—or really weird stuff like theories on time travel—they only got on that topic because of some movie they had both saw, but after a while the topic gets old and then you're left with nothing to talk about… _again_—so, comparing her conversations with Akio and her conversations with Keitaro, Sueko would have to say Keitaro was a more interesting person to hang around with—no offense to Akio, who was a great guy and all. But with the height difference—for Akio was pretty tall for his age, taller then Tamika and Keitaro—would have been a problem. Keitaro was tall but not tall in the difficult way. Kind of like InuYasha…

Sueko sighed. "Mom? I was kind of wondering if you wouldn't mind me going back over to Feudal Japan for a little while? I haven't been there in a long time and I'm starting to miss my friends there a bit…"

"Oh," said Sueko's mom. "Can you stay until dinner's ready?"

"No, I'm sorry… I have a feeling I need to be there _now_…" said Sueko.

"Okay. Try to hurry back here as soon as you can, though!" said her mom, giving her a hug good-bye before Sueko hurried to call Tamika to tell her she'd be leaving and her mother returned to the spaghetti.

Once upstairs in her room, Sueko took all her school stuff out of her book bag to replace it with things she'd need in Feudal Japan, like her hairbrush, a few books to read, her GameBoy, batteries, her CD player she had gotten for Christmas, some new CD's she'd gotten while she'd been here, a few cosmetic things, a few extra clothing items incase something happened to the other ones… When she had packed everything Sueko collapsed on the bed and sighed, reaching over to her pillow to pet Neko, who was sitting there and meowing—instead of barking, Sueko supposed.

"I haven't been able to draw you in ages!" laughed Sueko, scratching Neko's chin as she purred. "I bet you miss that, don't you?"

One of Sueko's lame hobbies was to take a sketchpad and draw her cat… It's the only thing she could really draw. That and birds, flowers, a few insects, trees, rabbits, and dogs… not that she had seen very many dogs in her day, never owning one, but occasionally there'd be a lazy dog sitting in the sunshine she'd be able to draw out the window. Her drawing skills were basically limited to animals… or things that didn't move, but there was only so many times you could draw the living room sofa before that got real boring—and incredibly lame. But being in Feudal Japan, she was always up on the go and so it was difficult to sit down and draw things that didn't move.

Getting off the bed, Sueko stuck a notebook and a pencil in her book bag—maybe she'd have some time to draw there after all. And, after patting her cat gently on the head for good-bye, Sueko put the book bag over her shoulder and rushed downstairs to the shrine, glad to have an excuse to go back home—after all, Feudal felt more like home then _home_ since she was there more than here anyways!

* * *

It wasn't too long after Yoshiko left that he heard somebody walk up behind him. At first he didn't recognize the scent. But when he did his eyes narrowed and he turned around to look into Emiko's smiling face. She crossed her arms when she knew she had his attention and leaned against a tree. For a minute they just stood there, staring at each other. Finally Emiko rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well? Are you going to go after her?" she snapped.

"Who?" said Sesshomaru.

"Don't play stupid!" Emiko cried, throwing up her hands in annoyance. "Yoshiko, you idiot!"

"Why should I?" muttered Sesshomaru, looking away. "Would you stop me from her being where she wants to be?"

"Aren't you just depressing?" sighed Emiko. "But how is it that you know what she wants? You don't talk to her enough to even know anything about her life."

It was obviously her plan to anger him, but at the moment Sesshomaru was too tired to let it bother him. Besides, it was true. He wasn't going to argue such a pointless issue. Emiko knew more about Yoshiko than he would ever know and it probably be his own fault in the end. But even more than that he wasn't in the mood to talk to Emiko, have her laugh at him or give that smug smile.

"What are you doing here?" growled Sesshomaru.

"It's nice to see you too," said Emiko, shaking her head sadly. "I was in the area and thought I would come see my friend."

"We're _not_ friends," snapped Sesshomaru.

"What? We kiss and you won't even admit to being my _friend!_" cried Emiko in mock horror. "That's just cold. I'll feel sorry for your girlfriend."

"I've had enough of this," said Sesshomaru, starting to reach for his sword.

"Is that how you solve everything?" asked Emiko seriously. "Something doesn't go your way so you kill somebody. How romantic."

"Are you done?" asked Sesshomaru, drawing his sword. "As far as I'm concerned you're my enemy and I will kill you."

"Then where does Yoshiko fit into all of this?" said Emiko as if to herself. She put a finger to her chin thoughtfully and looked off into the trees.

Sesshomaru raised up his sword, thinking about killing her while she was looking away. But when she raised an eyebrow at him, he paused. Just when she was about to say something to him, a strong wind started blowing through. It wasn't just any wind though. It was most definitely demonic. Just as a blast of smoke came out of nowhere, Sesshomaru realized that Emiko had no weapon. Grudgingly, he stepped between her and where the demon was appearing.

When the smoke cleared completely Sesshomaru gasped. The demon standing before him looked almost like Naraku, except his eyes were gray, not red. He recalled his half-brother and that strange girl talking about a new demon. When Sesshomaru asked if he had blue eyes they had said he had gray eyes. Maybe this was that demon. What was his name again… Kamatari?

"He's kind of hot…" muttered Emiko, peering around Sesshomaru to get a better look.

"Thank you, but you're really not my type," he said off handedly.

"Don't worry. You're not my type either," shrugged Emiko.

"Then you won't be heartbroken when I kill you," said Kamatari.

"Don't expect me to protect you either," muttered Sesshomaru just causing Emiko to start laughing so hard she had to grab hold of a tree to keep herself up.

"You would be… InuYasha's older brother," said Kamatari with a hint of interest in his voice, turning to Sesshomaru.

"What would it be to you?" snapped Sesshomaru, starting to get annoyed by everything and everyone.

"Well, Naraku was interested in this fact so I am too," explained Kamatari, shrugging, "which I'm one of his reincarnations that he created before he died."

"In that case," said Sesshomaru, lifting up his sword. "I will have to kill you."

"Now I'm sure you'll prove to more or a challenge than your brother, but I didn't come here to fight," said Kamatari.

"You just can't win today, can you?" giggled Emiko, sounding so much younger than she looked. "First Yoshiko walks off on you, I show up, and then a demon shows up that you can't even kill."

"Speaking of Yoshiko—" started Kamatari.

Upon hearing the demon mention her name, Sesshomaru started jumping to conclusions. He thought maybe Kamatari had killed her but what would be the point of telling Sesshomaru now? Then the thought came up that Kamatari had her captive. Though why would he tell Sesshomaru? It almost seemed like the demon could tell what he was thinking, because a smirk crossed his face.

"I've noticed that you've spent and awful lot of time with the half tiger demon lately," continued Kamatari. "And from what I hear you hate humans and half-demons are the worst. What's with the sudden change?"

"Ooh! Maybe you can actually get him to say something!" said Emiko excitedly. "He won't admit anything to me."

"What makes you think there is anything?" growled Sesshomaru, starting to turn away.

"Well…" said Kamatari thoughtfully. "If she were to suddenly, say, die… how would you react, Lord Sesshomaru?"

He didn't stop to think about it. Out of built up anger, Sesshomaru turned around and swung a blow at Kamatari's neck. Almost out of thin air a short sword appeared in the demon's hand and he one handedly blocked the attack. A short laugh escaped Kamatari's lips as he managed to push Sesshomaru back. Emiko gasped and, in a flash of flames, a dagger appeared in her hand, which she attempted to stab Kamatari with. He dodged easily and sliced her arm. Her face became very serious as she grabbed her bleeding forearm.

"You're both pathetic," sighed Kamatari. "I find it impossible that you ever got a hold of any of the stones."

"Well I inherited mine," snapped Emiko. "The question is where did you get _yours_?"

Kamatari just gave her this look that almost plainly said 'it's none of your business' and raised his sword to a killing blow. For no reason that he could think of, Sesshomaru rushed forward and blocked the attack. Then forcing Kamatari back, he tried yet again to chop his head off. But instead his sword was deflected by a shield. The force of the barrier was almost enough to shatter Sesshomaru's arm. Instantly he dropped his sword and stepped back, his arm limp at his side.

"Until next time Lord Sesshomaru," laughed Kamatari, his voice echoing, as a wind blew through and he disappeared in another puff of smoke.

"That was eventful…" mumbled Emiko, turning to Sesshomaru. "How's your arm?"

"It'll be fine," growled Sesshomaru, the feeling already coming back in painful flashes.

"I'll be just fine too, thanks for asking," said Emiko coldly, stooping down and picking up his sword.

"Why should I care what happens to you?" snapped Sesshomaru.

"We're moody again," sighed Emiko, walking back to where he had left Jaken and Rin. He made no sign to stop her but just followed. "You're not _really_ going to let what he said about Yoshiko get to you? She's too strong willed to let someone like him kill her."

When they walked into the clearing Rin looked up. Upon seeing Emiko she didn't stand up or run up. In fact she didn't even smile. Sesshomaru didn't find anything odd about it since Emiko was a stranger. Instead he strode over to a rock and sat down, waiting for the pain to leave his arm. Emiko leaned his sword against a tree and sat down on the grass at his feet. She draped her hair over her shoulder and started braiding it. The tiger demon glanced over at Rin and smiled. The girl just turned away as if thinking she was intruding.

"She's a sweet girl," said Emiko. "Where'd you pick her up?"

Sesshomaru didn't respond but finally decided to think over what Kamatari had said. And, more importantly, his reaction. Their conversation reminded him a bit too much of Emiko's though she had attempted to kill _him_. He couldn't say the same about Yoshiko or Rin. Besides, he was sure she wouldn't have hesitated to kill him if she could. That was probably the only thing stopping her from trying to kill him now. Even injured she was no match for him.

Tired of fighting and denying, Sesshomaru started thinking about the best way to say it. But he wasn't exactly sure what it was he wanted to say. Emiko sat patiently, picking a stray flower near her foot. After looking at it for a while she placed it in her hair. He found himself noticing that the little blue flower matched her eyes. Or she had matched her eyes to the flower. Just when he was about to say something, Rin walked over timidly.

"Hey cutie!" cried Emiko, crossing her legs and sitting up straight. "I'm Aunt Rheda, what's your name?"

After glancing at Sesshomaru the girl replied, "My name is Rin."

"That's such a sweet name. No wonder Yoshiko likes you!" cooed Emiko. Then she added, almost bitterly, "Of course she liked almost any little girl that reminds her of herself."

"You know Yoshiko?" asked Rin, her eyes wide.

"She's my niece," responded Emiko, picking another flower. "We use to talk a lot back when I was nice Aunty Rheda. Then I guess things changed and now she won't even admit that I'm her aunt. Not that I blame her."

"You're telling us this why?" inquired Sesshomaru.

"Just thought I'd let you know why Yoshiko hates demons so much," shrugged Emiko. "I'm part of that problem. And those silly legends about the 'Last One.'"

"Are you saying she may not come back?" cried Rin indignantly. "Just because Lord Sesshomaru's a demon?"

"Well, if Fluffy here doesn't monitor his attitude…" said Emiko off handedly. "There's a chance that Yoshiko will probably stay away rather than risk getting into an argument she'll never have the chance to apologize about."

She waited for these words to sink in. If the subject wasn't so serious Rin might have found the nickname amusing. Sesshomaru wondered why he was gaining this knowledge _after_ already having an argument with Yoshiko. Of course Emiko didn't know this. Or she did and that was why she was telling him now. There could have been no way of telling him before. They hadn't known each other then. And he still wasn't sure if he wanted to know her now.

"She was pretty quick about apologizing last time," said Sesshomaru.

"Even though she shouldn't have needed to…" mumbled Rin, looking down at the ground. Sesshomaru glanced at her slight surprise then looked back at Emiko.

"You two got into an argument? Wow…" said Emiko in amazement. "Actually, I expected it. Your ethics and ways of life clash horribly. Somebody is going to have to change their perspective and I can't see that person being Yoshiko."

She twirled the small white flower between her fingers a couple of times before handing it to Rin. Emiko smiled and placed it in the girl's hair. Then she turned back to Sesshomaru.

"But if you were to suddenly drop off the face of the earth, let's say, after getting into an argument, she would blame herself," explained Emiko. "You see, she and her father had a fight before he left. Something about protecting her little brother and all of this was his fault. Then she found out he had died like a week later and she thought that maybe if she had apologized maybe he wouldn't have gotten killed."

As pathetic as it sounded, it made sense to Sesshomaru. As much as she tried to hide it Yoshiko was a sensitive person. It almost seemed like she was so fragile that if he touched her she would break. It was a silly thought but it basically summed up how he felt. She was made out of china and he would have to handle her carefully or she would shatter. Maybe, someday, he would be able to give her flesh and bones.

* * *

Ignoring the cramped feet, Sueko climbed up the well. She couldn't help but grin as she pulled herself up, for she couldn't wait to see everyone.

Well, maybe not InuYasha. But she'd just have to learn to deal with him! Besides, maybe with the time they'd spent apart it wouldn't be so awkward like it is on TV.

Hopefully.

When she finally got to the top she was surprised to find Yoshiko and Shippo standing there, Shippo with an amazed expression on his face, Yoshiko with her arms crossed and this smug look on her face. But Sueko noticed Yoshiko's lips twitched to a sort of smile just as Sueko pulled herself completely out of the well and was brushing herself down.

She turned her head, not noticing anyone else around. "Where are Miroku and Sango? And InuYasha?"

"You've been gone three weeks and that's all you've got to say?" Yoshiko asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Is everyone okay?" Sueko asked, still looking around. "Are there any shrine stones around?"

"Yeah," said Yoshiko. But that's all she said.

"What's going on?" cried Sueko, putting her book bag down and walking up to Yoshiko—though her attempts to look at her eye-to-eye were in vain since Yoshiko was pretty tall. "My sword glows and then it starts talking to me and you have the nerve to say nothing!"

Yoshiko smiled sweetly. "I haven't said _nothing_! Haven't you been listening or are you suddenly deaf?"

Sueko sighed. "Must I kill you with my sword!" she cried out—just as she saw two people out of the corner of her eye come from behind a group of trees.

"Miroku? Sango?" Sueko gasped, turning around.

"Hello to you too!" said Sango, smiling. She looked flustered and out of breath.

As if he could read her mind, Miroku said, "We just got done fighting a demon. Well, not quite… InuYasha was doing most of it anyways so we left him to it. And we heard yelling."

"That's because she's just being annoying!" cried Sueko, pointing an accusing finger at Yoshiko.

"But I haven't done anything!" said Yoshiko innocently. "Well… I did force you up here…"

"You went down the well?" cried Sango in amazement.

"No, I lured her here with a shrine stone," said Yoshiko, holding up an earth stone and grinning.

"You know, I have better things to do then run after stones and save them. I could have been doing something important in my time!" cried Sueko, crossing her arms.

"But were you?" asked Yoshiko sweetly.

"No…" Sueko admitted.

"Wait," said Shippo suddenly—so suddenly that everyone actually looked down to look at him. He was actually a bit startled by this but said none-of-the-less to Sueko quite seriously, "What happened to your legs? They're all dark looking…"

"What!" cried Sueko.

"Yeah…" said Sango in agreement. "There's like a weird cloth covering them or something…"

Sueko continued to stand there blinking, but eventually her brain registered what they were all saying and she looked down at her tights while saying, "Oh, crap."

"What?" everyone said anxiously, which made Sueko giggle.

"They're called tights. See, you wear them in my era with dresses and skirts and crap… yeah, whatever. But I was in such a rush to get over here that I never changed…" sighed Sueko. "It's never practical to run around fighting demons in a _skirt_!"

"But Kagome was always in a skirt!" Shippo piped up.

"I'm—not—Kagome!" cried Sueko through gritted teeth.

"And we're all very glad that you're _not_ Kagome," said Yoshiko. "If you were then you wouldn't be you!"

"Whatever," said Sueko, not getting a word Yoshiko had said. "If you excuse me, I'll be going back to my time frame for like ten minutes or something—"

"Oh, no you don't!" cried Yoshiko, grabbing her by the arm before Sueko could even move one step.

"Oh, come on!" cried Sueko. "Just for ten minutes!"

"No! You'll never come back!"

"I will too! But I can't stand walking around Feudal Japan with a skirt the whole entire time!"

"You're staying here, and that's final!" cried Yoshiko.

Sueko sighed, not really in the mood to argue. "Fine. Can I at least get out of these tights!"

"Sure!" said Yoshiko, letting go and smiling innocently.

"Uh huh," said Sueko moodily, picking up her book bag and walking into the forest to find some random clump of bushes to change in. She was surprised—and at the same time, not really that amazed—to find InuYasha leaning against a tree away from everyone else, looking extremely unsure of himself. And, when Sueko had went up to him, extremely nervous.

She almost felt sorry for him. _Almost_. She still couldn't get over what he had done, even if he had never liked her in that way…

"Hi," said Sueko simply.

"Yeah… Hi…" said InuYasha, taken aback by the fact Sueko was actually talking to him.

"I'm just going to change," said Sueko, incase he hadn't heard her tell the others, "because there's no way I'm wearing tights in this era."

"Okay," said InuYasha, crossing his arms and turning away.

'Fine! Be that way!' thought Sueko, walking into the forest. But somehow she couldn't help thinking, 'But can I really blame him for it?'


	24. The Labyrinth and Sueko's Decision

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**Wow, the really dramatic post! Not really that dramatic, but everyone's acting dramatic. Except Sango and Miroku. And Yoshiko and the people she's with sort of has a reason to be dramatic. And I suppose InuYasha and Sueko have an excuse… but they're still being _overly_ dramatic! _Sigh_ Just to let you know, you might want to try and remember "Chapter Eighteen: Complicated Love" because part of this chapter revolves around that. But you don't necessary have to go _reread_ it because part of it is re-explained but just remember it, okay

**DISCLAIMER**  
_Sigh_ Must I do this every single bloody time? I mean, _really_! If you don't have this drilled to your brain that is just plain sad! But I suppose I must explain, otherwise Fluffy-sama will show up and chop my head off or something… I'm in a strange mood if I'm calling Sesshomaru Fluffy-sama… but it's such an awesome nickname! And it's so much easier to type during IM. Well, Fluffy, that is. If only InuYasha had a nickname that was shorter than his name. IY or Inu just doesn't work the same way as Fluffy-sama… Hmm… ANYWAYS, anything created by Rumiko Takahashi we don't own. You know, Takahashi is a very common Japanese surname. I ran across this information online the other day. I forgot what I was searching for exactly. Well, maybe I should just shut up so you can read the fan fic… and reply because if you don't then Fluffy-sama will cut _your_ head off. 

Seriously!

And I never got around to editing this even though I was going to, and I figured that it's been a while since the last update that I should just do it anyways so I am anyways… But it's not like we're horrible writers or anything. We use spell check for god's sake!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: The Labyrinth and Sueko's Decision**

It was really odd being back in Feudal Japan with all her friends. She was so used to the daily routine in her day that it was difficult to get back to her daily routine here… especially when that was walking around Japan when she was wearing these really painful shoes! They were really cute dressy sort of shoes that were just fine when wearing them for short periods of time… but it hurt enough walking all through Tokyo with Keitaro and then up all those stairs with the shoes on. Walking all around Japan just made it worse.

At one point Sueko just wondered if it would just be best to walk around barefoot (well, she couldn't wear just her socks because they'd get all dirty) but, luckily, it was around this time that Sango noticed Sueko's odd walk and wincing and asked her if she'd be happier wearing a spare pair of sandals she had?

Okay, it might have been February but Sueko was desperate enough to accept. Besides, with socks on it wasn't that bad. And they were really comfortable. For people with a lack of shoe stores they sure knew how to make them on their own.

With her shoe problem solved, Sueko was left to wonder about… well, Feudal Japan. She had missed out on quite a lot since she'd been gone. And she no had clue if anything drastic had happened either… and she was almost too afraid to ask. It seemed to her everyone was a lot more quiet than usual too… was it because she had showed up? Had she been gone for so long that it was just too weird for her to be back?

All these thoughts were really random and very confusing… Maybe Sueko _had_ been gone a little too long… Perhaps it was a good thing that an all too familiar sound filled her ears as she heard Yoshiko moan and InuYasha growl in disgust as the familiar scent filled their more sensitive noses.

A funnel of wind stopped it's winding in between the trees right in front of Yoshiko, and it quickly turned into a familiar looking boy with long black hair and a lot of brown in his outfit.

Koga held both of Yoshiko's hands in his as he asked, "How's my girl been doing since we last met?"

"Fine, thanks," said Yoshiko dryly, jerking her hands out of his.

"Mutt-face hasn't been giving you problems?" Koga asked, crossing his arms casually.

"_No_! Why would InuYasha be giving _me_ problems?" asked Yoshiko.

"What about his brother… Sesshomaru? You've been hanging around with him a lot lately…" said Koga.

"Oh, for Gods sake! Why would I tell you about my personal life!" cried Yoshiko.

"If he hasn't been treating you properly I can always kill him for you," said Koga.

"YOU DON'T NEED TO KILL SESSHOMARU!" screeched Yoshiko.

"Koga, what do you want?" asked Sueko boredly.

When Koga looked over at Sueko his eyes widened. Not that Sueko knew why—or cared, really—she was just annoyed that he never really paid attention to her unless she said something. But she found it extremely strange when Koga put a one hand on his hip and asked, "Who are you?"

"Who am I!" cried Sueko. "Who do you think I am? It's not like you've never seen me before!" When Koga's expression remained unchanged she added while waving her arms about in her fury, "I'm Sueko! You know, Spiritual Shrine girl! Foreign girl who came out of well! Girl with weird psychotic sword!"

Okay, so he wouldn't have gotten the sword part. But Sueko was too cranky to care.

"Really?" said Koga, raising an eyebrow. "You're a lot prettier then the Sueko _I_ remember."

Sueko then realized the fact she was wearing a skirt. A fairly short skirt… and this really fancy red shirt… and her hair was still somewhat curly from when Tamika had curled it yesterday. So maybe someone used to living in the 15th century would find her appearance very different from her normal, plain one, but still…

Still acting bored, Sueko crossed her arms and asked, "And your point exactly is _what_?"

Koga shrugged, putting that one arm back at his side again. "Can't I notice a pretty lady once and a while?"

"Ha!" cried Sueko. "Me, pretty… you sure you're looking at me and not that half tiger demon over there?" she asked, pointing over at an extremely cranky Yoshiko.

"Well, aren't you cute?" said Koga.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Is there a reason why you're here or are you just going to stand there enjoying the sound of your voice?" asked InuYasha moodily.

"What's it to you, mutt-face? Am I not allowed to talk to your friends?" said Koga smugly.

"You're just wasting my time, that's all," said InuYasha crankily.

"And I'm supposed to care _why_?"

"Could you be any more immature?" Yoshiko asked with a sigh.

"Are you sure you _want_ to know the answer to that?" Sueko muttered under her breath.

"Look, if you're just going to stand there and think highly of yourself could you just leave?" complained InuYasha. "I'm really getting sick of you!"

"But I wanted to see Yoshiko!" said Koga as if it was the most important thing in the world. "I was thinking of getting her flowers… but I didn't have time to pick any."

"It's winter, idiot!" snapped Sueko. "There aren't going to be any flowers."

"Flowers…" muttered Yoshiko as if she wasn't sure she was hearing correctly.

"Yeah, you know, flowers," said Koga, turning toward her and putting his hands on his hips. "Those pretty things that grow and—"

"I know what they are!" cried Yoshiko. Then her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "But why would you get _me_ flowers?"

"Because you're my woman and I like you!" said Koga, raising his eyebrows. "I bet that Sesshomaru guy doesn't give you flowers."

Yoshiko didn't bother saying anything. Instead her eyes just narrowed, she pulled back her fist and hit him on the eye. She hit him so hard he fell backwards onto the ground. With that she turned on her heels and walked off.

* * *

Koga was so frustrating! She tells him to leave her alone and he just gets even more attracted. Plus he just _had_ to bring up Sesshomaru every time he showed up. Like she needed reminding of _that_ by a guy that actually liked her. Which brought up a pretty interesting thought: if Koga did like her why didn't she just forget about Sesshomaru and get together with the wolf? It would be so much simpler than hanging out with a guy that didn't care about her at all. It was rather pointless to even trying seeing him. In fact she really only wanted to see Rin.

'Just admit you like the guy already! Everybody else can se it,' said a voice in the back of Yoshiko's head. 'Even Rin.'

But she had already admitted she liked Sesshomaru… hadn't she? Yeah, sure, Sueko had just said Yoshiko liked him and she agreed… but she had said it! Well, okay, not really recently. Sueko had, once again, said she liked him. Sango had assumed that was what she was trying to say. Koga was asking question about him (the nerve of some guys!), and Sueko had told InuYasha. Oh, and now Miroku knew as well. At least that meant she wouldn't have to worry about him feeling her butt. He was that considerate anyways. The point however was that Yoshiko had never really said it. Wow, three simple words and she couldn't even say them. Then again the last time she said them Raoul had died.

'I haven't thought about him in a while,' thought Yoshiko, stopping and looking around at the trees as if expecting him to walk out, or for somebody to show up. 'You know, Koga's kind of like a louder version of him. So why can't I just like Koga? It would be so much easier…'

Maybe it wasn't Koga that was frustrating. Maybe it wasn't even _Sesshomaru_ (thought he was a definite part of it). It was her head and feelings that were frustrating. They never cooperated; they never understood each other and neither ever took the easy way out. None of this would be happening if she hadn't fought with her father! Why couldn't she have just kept quiet?

Suddenly she heard a familiar voice and quickly jumped behind a tree. When only Rin ran into the trees, Yoshiko sighed and walked over. The girl looked up from examining some mushrooms and started to say something. But Yoshiko put a finger to her lips and Rin's mouth closed. She then gestured for Rin to follow her. Once they were a good distance away, Yoshiko knelt down.

"Hey," said Yoshiko, smiling. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," said Rin, fidgeting slightly. "Thought it's been only one day and I miss you… a lot!"

"Why's that?" asked Yoshiko, pulling Rin to sit on her lap.

"Well, this weird woman came and said that you may not come back… for some reasons," explained Rin, still fidgeting. "Lord Sesshomaru has been awfully quiet since she left."

"He's always quiet!" said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"But this is different!" said Rin, standing up again. Yoshiko raised her eyebrows questioningly. "I don't know really how it is… but it's definitely different!"

"What was this woman like?" asked Yoshiko, deciding to move on.

"Well… she had green eyes. Her hair was plaited and… stripes kind of like yours…" explained Rin.

"Rheda…" muttered Yoshiko.

"Yeah, that's her," said Rin. "She said she was your aunt."

"What's she doing hanging around with Sesshomaru right after possessing him?" murmured Yoshiko, standing up. This time it was Rin to look at her in confusion. "Well, I probably should get—" she started but suddenly the one person she really didn't want to face showed up.

"I thought you went to see you friend," said Sesshomaru, not looking at her.

"Just wanted to check up on Rin because I kind of just left without warning," said Yoshiko, shrugging. "Also wondering if there was any change in your strange behavior."

As if in answer, Sesshomaru turned and started walking away. Yoshiko sighed and put her hand on her forehead in frustration.

"What are you so worried about? About the fact that I'll find out that you kissed Rheda?" asked Yoshiko. In surprise Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder almost sadly. "Well, that's the only way she could have possessed you! That's how she did it last time, anyways."

Sesshomaru only stood there looking at her over his shoulder. Finally Yoshiko just rolled her eyes and turned around, throwing her hands up in the air. She sort of leaned backwards to look at him.

"You know, I really don't care. Rheda is only going to let herself get into a relationship with other tiger demon," said Yoshiko. "Not that there's anymore of those around…" she added. Then she shrugged. "Whatever. See you later!" she said, walking away and waving.

* * *

As Yoshiko walked out of the trees to where she left everybody, Sango walked over smiling.

"Took you long enough," she muttered.

Yoshiko looked around Sango and saw Koga sitting next to a tree. When he saw Yoshiko he got to his feet hurriedly either to see if she was okay or worried that she would hit him again. She was kind of glad to see that she had left him with a black eye. Sueko wandered over as well, her arms crossed.

"Where did you disappear to anyways?" she sighed, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"I kind of just left Sesshomaru suddenly so I could get you so I decided to check up on Rin," shrugged Yoshiko. "Of course he's just as quiet as ever. But like I really care that he kissed my aunt."

"Wait!" cried Sueko, waving her hands around. "Slow down! Sesshomaru kissed Rheda?"

"Well, I'm assuming since she, like, possessed him… and that's how she did it with Miroku," said Yoshiko off handedly.

"And you… don't… care…" said Sueko slowly, trying to process it. "But, you like him! Don't you?"

"I guess," said Yoshiko, trying to get past this conversation quickly.

Thankfully a distraction came up. Out of the trees came stumbling a short, curly haired girl who ran into Yoshiko and sending them both to the ground. Sango and Sueko just stood there staring at the place Yoshiko use to be standing, blinking. When Yoshiko recognized the small figured she muttered under her breath and pushed the girl off her. Then she quickly got to her feet and brushed off some dirt. Sango sent her an angry look before leaning to help the girl up.

"Sorry… sorry…" muttered Utako distractedly, patting her dress as if looking for something while not looking at anybody. Then she looked up at Yoshiko and her face brightened and a large smile crossed her face. Suddenly she jumped forward and hugged Yoshiko around the middle since she wasn't tall enough to reach her neck. "This must be my lucky day! I never expected to find you!"

"Who's the kid?" asked Koga, finally walking over.

"She's 19," muttered Yoshiko, pushing a really happy Utako off her. "And she's some random kid that my brother met."

"I'm so glad that I ran into you!" said Utako airily.

"And why's that?" sighed Yoshiko, wishing she would just disappear.

"Will you just slow down for two minutes?" cried Sueko. "Sheesh, I'm gone for three weeks and everything happens at once!"

"Maybe that's why you shouldn't leave…" muttered Yoshiko. Sueko's response was to hit the half tiger demon on the head. Yoshiko just rolled her eyes. "Look, she's just some girl that meant my brother. That's all! Sango and I met her at this village near the one I grew up in."

"And she has this cute crush on Godric as well," added Sango almost dreamily.

"She just thinks she has a crush on my brother…" muttered Yoshiko under her breath. "Anyways, what are you doing here?" she asked, turning back to Utako.

The girl was still smiling and looking like she was thinking about something far away. When Yoshiko talked to her, she shook he head and her face became serious. She stood up as tall as she could, considering how short she was, and attempted to look Yoshiko in the eyes. When she could she turned to Sueko and looked her in the eyes since they were about the same height.

"Well, I remembered that Godric gave me something to give you," she said importantly.

"Which is?" prompted Yoshiko, trying to stay patient.

"Some stone or another…" shrugged Utako.

"A stone?" said InuYasha, suddenly interested. "Was it any special color? Like yellow or red?"

"No, it was just a stone," said Utako thinking. Yoshiko narrowed her eyes so Utako laughed nervously and thought a little harder. "Okay, it was kind of green."

"So where is it?" asked Yoshiko, sighing. This was going to take forever at this rate.

"Well, I have it…" started Utako, patting her waist. "Um…"

"Utako," said Yoshiko sternly. She felt like she was talking to a three year old. Rin wasn't this difficult to talk to.

"I left it in this secret place," said Utako, putting a hand behind her head.

"And…" moaned Yoshiko.

"This demon was after me! What else could I do?" cried Utako.

"Calm down!" said Sango kindly. "Where is the stone? Can you take us to it?"

"I'd love to but…" said Utako. Then she grinned a bit sheepishly. "You see… the demon is kind of at the hiding place."

"So the demon has the stone?" inquired Yoshiko impatiently.

"No!" cried Utako, holding up her hands in fists. "The stone is _hidden_ and the demon just _happens_ to be in the place it's _hidden_!"

"Which means?" sighed Yoshiko, putting her hand on her forehead.

"I'm really sorry?" tried Utako, edging behind Sango. "I tried really hard? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"

"For you to shut up and leave me alone," sighed Yoshiko to herself and not loud enough for anybody to hear except Sueko who was standing right next to her. And for it she got another hit on the head. But she really didn't care.

"So what are we doing?" asked Miroku, surprising everybody because he hadn't really said much of anything.

"I don't know…" said Yoshiko, turning to Sueko. "You're the 'Last One.' What are we going to do?"

"Why do I have to decide?" cried Sueko.

"I already told you!" snapped Yoshiko. "You're the protector of the shrines. It's your decision."

"Well, we have to get the damn thing, of course," sighed Sueko in annoyance.

"Right then…" said Yoshiko, standing up straight. Then she stopped and turned to Utako. "You're the one that messed it all up. Where's the stone?"

"Uh… I'm not sure if I remember…" said Utako, still hiding behind Sango. "Because… um… I kind of ran away and don't remember which direction I came from."

For a minute everybody stood there thinking of what to do. Since Utako was standing behind Sango Yoshiko didn't even think about trying to hit the girl. Instead she turned away in frustration and glared at Koga randomly. He grinned at her nervously and gave a half wave. Yoshiko sighed and hung her head sadly. Suddenly, she got an idea! It was such a simple things, why hadn't she thought of it before? When she got this idea she slapped herself on the forehead, causing almost everybody to jump in surprise.

"Ow…" moaned Yoshiko. She hadn't meant to hit herself that hard…

"What did you do that for?" snapped Sueko, holding up her fist in a threatening manner.

"Well, I just realized that you could use your sword to figure out where the stone was," said Yoshiko, rubbing her now sore forehead, "but it was such a 'no duh' thing that I hit myself… though I did it a little too hard."

But Sueko was ignoring the last part of this and drawing out her sword. It was glowing a very slight blue. From behind Sango came a very loud 'Oooh!' as Utako popped her head around the demon exterminator to get a better look at the sword. As if forgetting about an extremely annoyed Yoshiko she crept out from behind Sango and shuffled over to Sueko. Utako held up a finger and hesitated but then went ahead and slowly touched the blade of the sword.

"It's cold!" said Utako.

"Every sword is!" cried Sueko, pulling her sword out of reach of Utako. Which was pretty easy seeing as how she was taller than the girl. But that was just sad seeing as how Utako was older than her by three years. "Okay, we know a stone is nearby… duh… but now which direction do we go?"

"Did you forget already?" sighed Yoshiko. "The sword talks! Well, only to you, but it does talk!"

"Excuse me?" said InuYasha in surprise. "Since when did the sword talk?"

"I don't feel like explaining," said Yoshiko wearily. "Besides, it may actually 'talk' but it does in some sort of way giving messages to Sueko… I'm shutting up now."

"Good!" said Sueko. "Because I can't concentrate when you're talking."

A little bit of time passed as Sueko stood there with her eyes closed, holding her sword. InuYasha started fidgeting impatiently. He was moving so much Yoshiko got annoyed, walked over and put her hands on his shoulders. One of Sueko's eyes opened and she looked over at Yoshiko and InuYasha. Then she sighed angrily.

"It's not doing anything, Yoshiko!" she cried. "It's not talking!"

Yoshiko sighed as well, but out of annoyance. Seeing as how she was as tall as InuYasha, she put her arm on his shoulder and leaned on him. The half dog demon glared at her but she wasn't paying attention. She was thinking about the best way to tell Sueko to stop whining and actually concentrate! But every way she thought of it, it would be just mean and then Sueko really wouldn't do what she wanted. Again she sighed and rested her head on InuYasha's shoulder. Then she felt something poking her. So she looked up to look at Shippo who was also on InuYasha's shoulder.

"What?" she growled.

"You're on my tail…" muttered Shippo.

"Too bad," muttered Yoshiko.

"Will you just get off me?" cried InuYasha, waving his arms around and making Yoshiko and Shippo fall to the ground.

"Fine!" cried Yoshiko, getting to her feet and walking over to Koga. She put her arm on his shoulder instead and leaned on him. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Koga blushing and grinning but she really didn't care. "Okay, Sueko. I'll say this nicely the first time. Forget that anybody is standing around, least of all InuYasha, and just pay attention to the sword."

"Screw you…" muttered Sueko angrily, turning on her heel and walking off. Yoshiko just shrugged.

"That was eventful…" murmured Yoshiko.

"Um…" said Utako, putting a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Shouldn't we go after her?"

"I'm not going after her!" said Yoshiko. "She's pissed at me!"

"Figured that out, did you?" said Sango, crossing her arms. "I'm not going after her because I'm not a part of this!"

"Same here," said Miroku. "And it would probably be best for all of us if InuYasha didn't go after her."

"Fine with me," growled InuYasha, crossing his arms.

"I don't really know her that much," said Koga, putting his arm around Yoshiko's waist.

"Careful where you put your hands…" hissed Yoshiko, just glaring at Koga but not really doing much of anything else. She really wasn't in the mood.

"I think she would hurt me…" said Shippo, hiding behind InuYasha. "I think she's scarier than Kagome when she's angry."

"Well… um… I guess… I could… go after her…" said Utako thoughtfully, looking around as if looking for Sueko. But Sueko had gone into the trees so Utako couldn't find her. She scratched her head in confusion until Sango took pity on her and turned her in the right direction.

"What if the demon attacks?" she said as if having second thoughts.

Yoshiko sighed, yet again (there seems to be a lot of that today) and pulled out her dagger. She tossed it as Utako's feet and the girl picked it up awkwardly.

"What's—" the girl started.

"Just…" said Yoshiko, holding up her hand. "Only use it if a demon attacks. Don't hurt yourself with it though!"

Utako shrugged, put the dagger in her belt and walked in the direction Sango had turned her in. After a while she was afraid that Sueko was so far ahead that she wasn't going to be able to find her. But she soon found Sueko sitting next to a tree, staring down at her sword, which she had put on the ground. Utako hesitated then walked over and poked Sueko.

"Go away!" cried Sueko, not looking up and hugging her knees to her chest. "I don't want to talk to you, Yoshiko!"

"That would make sense… if I was Yoshiko!" said Utako sweetly. She poked Sueko a couple more times before she looked up at Utako.

"What are you doing here?" muttered Sueko, sounding like she was about to cry.

"Well, I was a bit worried… Nobody else really was… but I was!" said Utako, sitting down. "I mean, what happened if the demon attacked and you were all by yourself?"

"I would kill it, duh!" said Sueko. "I can use a sword, you know!"

"Oh…" said Utako sheepishly. "Um… I guess so. But if Yoshiko hurt your feelings so much that you weren't paying attention the demon could have snuck up on you. Or maybe you would be so depressed you wouldn't really want to try fighting the demon. Or…"

"Why would I do that?" said Sueko in surprise.

"Um…" said Utako sadly, thinking about whether she should tell Sueko or not. It really wasn't her place… But what else was she going to do? Make something up? She really wasn't that good at that sort of thing. "Because that's what happened with Godric. He really missed Yoshiko, though it was kind of his fault that she left, and he really didn't care when the demon attacked him. I think the only smart thing he did was give me the stone but look how well that turned out…"

"Huh?" said Sueko, scratching her head in confusion.

But before Utako could even bother trying to think of a better explanation she paused. She got to her feet and listened really hard. Eyebrows raised, Sueko stood up as well, grabbing her sword. Fear crossed Utako's face as she realized what the sound was. She grabbed Sueko by the arm and started running back to the others. Sueko happened to hear the hooves as well and decided to run as well. Then Utako realized that she had no idea in which direction the others were so she stopped.

"What now?" snapped Sueko, looking behind them to see if the demon had caught up.

"I'm… kind of, sort of… lost…" said Utako worriedly.

"We're not that far away," muttered Sueko. This time it was her turn to grab Utako's arm and start walking in the direction the others were.

As they were walking, however, the demon suddenly came crashing out of the trees right in front of the girls. Utako screamed and put Sueko between her and the demon. Sueko blinked but really didn't find herself annoyed by it. Instead she turned toward the demon and drew her sword. It was then that the girls got a good look at the demon. It looked like a cow… except it had a human's torso, with a sort of bullhead with this ring in its nose.

"Ew," muttered Sueko, as Utako made a very fake retching sound. Then she realized that her sword was glowing a very bright blue. "So you're the demon with the Earth Stone!"

"My freedom is drawing closer," said the demon in a very low voice.

Before Sueko could respond, InuYasha rushed into the clearing with his sword out, crying out her name. He attempted to do the Wind Scar on the demon but it seemed to just go right through him. The cow thing laughed, which just really annoyed Sueko. _A lot_. Then Utako stood up straight and walked around Sueko toward the demon. Sueko blinked a couple of times before she realized what the girl was doing.

"Idiot!" she cried, grabbing to Utako.

But the girl got out of her reach quickly and continued to walk toward the demon. The minotaur-thing looked down at Utako when she reached it. She put up a hand and then hesitated. Then she reached forward to touch it but her hand went right through him. When this happened she started laughing… hysterically. The demon's hands became bawled into fists but he didn't attempt to hit Utako. InuYasha walked over and grabbed the girl by the arm and threw her backwards.

"What are you trying to prove?" he snapped at Utako who looked like she was about to cry suddenly.

"That he's not really here! He's like trapped somewhere and thinks that the stone will help him get out!" cried Utako. "But apparently he kind of needs us to get freedom as well."

"You figured that out by putting your hand through empty air?" said Yoshiko, walking into the clearing with her hands on her hips. "Damn! You must really feel smart, Utako."

"Uh huh!" said Utako, grinning and nodding her head.

"Enough of this!" thundered the demon, the ground shaking.

At that moment a heavy fog started rolling in. Almost randomly Koga ran into the clearing, picked Yoshiko up and landed next to Utako. By that time the fog was so heavy they couldn't see InuYasha or Sueko. But they heard Shippo cry out InuYasha's name. And then there was nothing… Utako grabbed Koga's arm so they wouldn't get separated. She really didn't want to get lost alone again. She just had the worse direction sense ever!

* * *

The fog was so thick that Sueko could barely see her hand in front of her face, let alone anyone else. She couldn't hear anything either… anything at _all_… It was almost like the fog blurred both sight and sound.

"Utako!" Sueko called out. "InuYasha? Yoshiko! Is anyone there at _all_!"

She had the feeling no one was there… which was such a depressing thought…

But as suddenly as it had appeared—though it seemed to linger around for ages—the fog immediately disappeared. Like, not just fade away, but _vanish_. If that wasn't weird enough Sueko suddenly found herself surrounded by stone walls decorated with moss and vines and other foliage… none of the trees of the forest she had been in before were around.

"InuYasha? Utako?" Sueko called out a bit timidly, holding out her sword nervously and turning around to make sure nothing was behind her.

"Great! I'm lost in a freaky thing with no one around!" Sueko muttered to herself as she just held the sword to her side and grumpily walked ahead, wondering when there would be an opening to the stonewalls. When the stonewalls just seemed to go on and on, it finally hit her that she must be in some sort of maze…

"Wow, that just makes it more fun, now doesn't it?" said Sueko, crossing her arms—okay, _tried_, since she forgot that you couldn't cross your arms with a sword in you hand! Well, maybe you could, but it was very difficult. So she just growled in frustration and started walking faster in hopes to get out of the maze quicker and get back to the others.

Eventually all the speed walking got her into a dead-end… well, it might have helped that she was so angry that she hadn't really paid attention to where she was going… But the dead-end lead her to that cow demon thingy… He was really, really ugly…

"Having fun yet?" he asked with a toothy grin—well, it wasn't really a grin… it was more like he just wanted to show off his teeth or something, which were actually kind of big.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Sueko angrily. "What'd you do with them, you jerk?"

"Who?"

"Oh, I don't know…" said Sueko angrily, "Maybe MY FRIENDS!"

"Hmm… those people?" said the demon thoughtfully. "I don't really know. They could be dead for all I know…"

Sueko blinked a few times. More like a few _dozen_ times. "What?" she said blankly.

"Well, there are a few demons in this maze…" said the cow-demon-thingy. "I mean, I don't really understand this maze myself…"

"My friends… aren't _dead_…. Are they?" asked Sueko in a daze.

The demon shrugged. "I don't really know. Now if you excuse me…"

"Wait! Don't leave!" cried Sueko, but the demon just walked right by her, turned a corner and disappeared.

"Oh God…" Sueko muttered to herself, trying to get out of the dead-end and on a new path. "They can fend themselves…. There's no way they'd die…"

But the thought of them being gone wouldn't leave her head. Maybe if she hadn't been so harsh to them earlier she wouldn't be thinking this. Maybe if she hadn't been so harsh to InuYasha she wouldn't be feeling so worried…

A sudden thumping noise occurred in the distance and Sueko went after it, hoping maybe she'd meet someone on the way.

* * *

"Why are we following Yoshiko and InuYasha?" asked Miroku tiredly. "I thought none of us wanted to go after Sueko…"

"I think we should just make sure Sueko and InuYasha don't kill each other," said Sango. "And that Yoshiko doesn't go killing Utako."

"And we're just going to leave Koga all alone?" said Miroku.

"Oh, you know him. He's probably worried about Yoshiko and went after her," said Sango, shrugging.

"True, true," said Miroku. But he stopped in his tracks when suddenly a sort of fog appeared. Though he could also just make out InuYasha and Yoshiko with Utako and Sueko in the distance… And maybe Koga was there too…

"Yoshiko!" Sango called out, starting to run towards her. But it seemed as though she was running and not really moving… This was when Miroku grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"I think there's a sort of spell placed around here," said Miroku.

"Thanks for telling me that, Mr. Obvious," muttered Sango. She was about to jerk her arm out of Miroku's grip but when the fog started encircling them she just moved closer to Miroku in hopes it wouldn't engulf her. But it did… Well, sort of…

"Great, now I can't see anything," muttered Sango, taking a step away from Miroku before he got any ideas.

"Hopefully the others are okay…" said Miroku, looking around him. It was then that the fog suddenly disappeared, like it had been sucked away. And, instead of seeing the trees of the forest Sango and Miroku only saw large stonewalls covered with moss and vines… And there was no sign of the others.

Sango sighed. "Is there ever a day when we don't have to figure out some sort of a problem involving a demon?" she asked tiredly.

"Nope!" said Miroku. "But don't you think it makes life more exciting?" he added with a grin.

"Not really…" said Sango, raising her eyebrows. Then she put her hands on her hips. "You're the know-it-all monk. You tell me what's going on!"

"I think it's a maze…" said Miroku.

"Wow…" said Sango, looking around. "I think so too…"

"I guess we have to find our way out," said Miroku, sighing dramatically like he thought this was a big pain. But you could so tell he didn't think that at all.

"So which way then?" said Sango. "We could go straight or turn around and go that-a-way…"

"Hmm… So many choices…" said Miroku with a grin.

"Shut up," muttered Sango, walking ahead and not even wondering whether or not the perverted monk would follow—she knew he would.

* * *

With the fog gone Yoshiko noticed large, looming stonewalls. She looked around for the others but all she saw were Utako and Koga. At first this didn't seem too bad… then it hit her: Sueko had been the closest to the demon. Fear crossed her face and she struggled to get out of Koga's arms. Since she was flailing so much he put her down and she walked a short distance away, looking around wildly.

"Sueko?" she called. "Sueko? Damn it girl, where are you?" Yoshiko shouted, turning in circles.

"She's not here," said Koga seriously.

"I know that!" snapped Yoshiko, turning to the nearest wall. She hit her fits upon it and tried to look up and see the top. "Don't you dare die! YOU HEAR ME SUEKO! DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!"

"That's a bit much…" muttered Koga.

"Shut up…" muttered Yoshiko through her teeth, leaning her head on the wall. "Just shut up!"

For the longest minute in Yoshiko's life the three just stood there. Then suddenly she felt a hand on her arm and she looked to see Utako standing next to her. Yoshiko sighed and turned away, looking in the two directions that the group could go in. But she kept on thinking about Sueko, wondering if the girl was okay. She really didn't care where they went. So she turned to the girl standing next to her.

"You got us in this mess," she said in a depressing manner. "Which way should we go?"

"I have like the worst sense of direction ever!" said Utako, crossing her arms. "So don't ask me. I'll get us into more trouble."

"Well, Sueko has a bad sense of direction too," said Yoshiko, "so maybe we'll run into each other."

"Are you that desperate to find the girl?" said Koga, his arms crossed and raising an eyebrow.

"Do you have a better idea?" cried Yoshiko. Koga just shrugged and turned away, starting walking away. Yoshiko sighed and followed after.

The quiet was deafening and was only broken by the sound of their footsteps. Yoshiko still felt depressed and hung her head choosing to only watch her feet. Koga glanced over his shoulder a couple of times before deciding to slow down and walk next to her. Then even after that he put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She thought about brushing him off but she didn't really feel like it. Suddenly, behind them, they heard Utako scream. Immediately both turned around to see a large centipede attempting to hit the girl. Yoshiko drew her sword and ran forward.

When she reached the demon, Utako scrambled to her feet and ran past Yoshiko to Koga. The half-tiger demon swung at the large centipede, attempting to cut it in half. But it turned its head toward her and bit down on the blade of the sword with its pincers. Shock passed over Yoshiko's face as, like in slow motion, her sword snapped and half of it fell to the ground. Then immediately after the centipede picked her up by the sword and sent her flying hard into a stonewall.

"Yoshiko!" cried Koga as she felt her head go numb and everything go black.

* * *

"What's happening?" cried Shippo worriedly, grabbing a hold of InuYasha's leg. If InuYasha wasn't trying to hard to see through all the fog he might have pulled Shippo off him and tell him to get a life. But no matter how hard he squinted through all the cloudiness he couldn't make out anyone… not even Sueko. And even when he called her name he never got a response.

As quickly as it had shown up the fog disappeared and all InuYasha could see then was a bunch of really thick stonewalls surrounding them to make one straight path… and Shippo, still clinging to his leg.

"Where is everyone!" Shippo cried.

"You think _I_ know?" snapped InuYasha, trying to think of what to do.

"Are they all _dead_?" Shippo asked quietly.

"Shut up, will yah?" muttered InuYasha, walking slowly forward. It just looked like one long endless path lined by this stonewall… even when he turned a corner that's all he saw… By now Shippo was sitting on his shoulder and InuYasha could already hear the little guy sniffling every so often.

"What is this thing, anyways?" Shippo asked. "Some sort of maze?"

"I guess so…" muttered InuYasha, annoyed that the little twerp had thought of it first.

"What if the demon thing killed everyone!" cried Shippo dramatically, pulling on InuYasha's hair. "What if Sueko's dead, just like Kagome!"

"Shut up, will you!" roared InuYasha. "They're not all dead, okay? Must you be so dramatic!"

Shippo's only response was to sniffle again, which sort of worried InuYasha. What if the little guy was right and they _were_ all gone? But how could the demon kill them all if he wasn't really there?

"I'm sure they're okay," said InuYasha more to himself than to the scared kitsune on his shoulder. "They can fend for themselves…"

But what if they couldn't! Sueko was still getting the hang of her sword… Sure, she could tackle a couple of demons that went her way but something powerful could easily defeat her… and that Minotaur looked pretty hard to fight. What if she ran into it?

'Ugh. Why do I care? She completely hates me, so why should I care if she goes and gets herself killed!' InuYasha thought to himself. But somehow he knew he couldn't just forget about Sueko… Apparently he did learn from both Kikyo and Kagome…

Before he could think another thought loud crashing noises filled his ears as the stonewalls suddenly collapsed. And as all the dust started to clear he could make out a stone ogre and Sueko… screaming as she fell off the cliff.

* * *

As Miroku took a left at a fork in the maze Sango said worriedly, "Are you _sure_ you know where you're going or are you just picking ways to turn and hoping for luck?"

"Can't you sense the demonic aura in the middle of the maze?" asked Miroku, looking at Sango in amazement with his eyebrows raised.

"Demonic aura?" said Sango. She stopped to concentrate really hard, and then continued walking while saying, "It's so faint I must have ignored it…"

"I think it'll get a lot stronger in the next turn…" muttered Miroku, turning a corner.

When Sango saw what was in front of her she couldn't help agreeing with Miroku. That was because as soon as they turned around it seemed as though they were right in the middle of the maze. Sango was only guessing, though… there was what looked like an Earth Stone on top of a small column as if to show it off, and standing right in front of it was a large lizard demon. Well, it wasn't really big or anything, just bigger than your average everyday lizard. It was probably no bigger than a very large dog…

When Miroku and Sango started walking towards the Earth Stone the lizard's back arched like a cats would and it hissed while its tongue went out.

"It looks very friendly," said Sango sarcastically, crossing her arms. "So what shall we do with the thing?"

"I don't know," said Miroku, shrugging. Just as he said this the lizard hissed threateningly at them again, though it was so comical looking that Sango couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Don't you have some scribe you could put on the thing!" asked Sango.

"Not really…" said Miroku. The way he said it Sango could tell some idea or another was occurring in his head. Before she could ask what it was Miroku walked forward, held his staff above his head and slammed it down on the lizards head hard enough for the lizard's eyes to roll to the back of his head and collapse to the ground. Satisfied, Miroku held his staff back at his side and grinned brightly at Sango.

"Nice…" said Sango sarcastically, walking forward to take the Earth Stone from the column to give to Sueko when they met back with her.

Two things happened when this happened. First the miniature column seemed to sink to the ground. Then, as soon as the column had completely sunk into the ground the stonewalls surrounding them started to collapse.

"Oh no…" muttered Sango as the stone collapsed and clouds of dust surrounded them.

"Nice…" said Miroku sweetly.

"Oh, shut up," muttered Sango, trying to squint pass all the rubble. But being able to see anything, she and Miroku decided to climb through all the stone rubble until they ran across someone.

* * *

Turning the corner to figure out what the thumping noises she had heard were, Sueko stopped right in her tracks and gapped at the thing in front of her: a stone ogre.

Her first instinct was to turn around and run—after all, the last time she encountered an ogre she and InuYasha had barely survived—but no matter how many times she told her feet to move they never did. Sueko knew she was scared but her brain couldn't quite figure out why.

Thank God when the ogre swung one of his thick, stone arms towards her Sueko was able to duck it and run away… but as soon as she ran towards the right and the ogre started following her she realized her first mistake: she had let the ogre block her only exit. Her second mistake was running towards a dead-end.

Ducking the blows as quick as she could and running back and forth to the left and the right whenever necessary, a random memory played in Sueko's head. A very random memory that she had kept trying to _not_ remember for the past three weeks…

"_InuYasha?" Sueko called out into the empty forest. "InuYasha!"_

_He had noticed him walking away from the others after a brief conversation with Miroku—about what she didn't know because she had been talking to Sango and didn't remember hearing a bit of their conversation at all—and couldn't help worrying about him. After all, it _was_ the new moon and she couldn't help remembering the fact she had to save his life on the last new moon…_

_A sudden noise of someone talking interrupted her thoughts. It sounded familiar… Was it InuYasha! There was defiantly another person talking as well… It sounded like a female, which confused Sueko—it wasn't Yoshiko and what other girls did InuYasha know!—but she didn't care because by the sounds of it InuYasha was okay…_

_But running past a couple of trees in her way and finally finding InuYasha, Sueko ran across a sight she would have never imagined._

_The other voice she had heard turned out to be a girl with Sueko's school's outfit: white shirt with a short green skirt. Her hair was raven and sort of like Sueko's, but Sueko couldn't say what the girl's eye color was because her eyes were closed. That'd be because this girl's lips were on InuYasha's._

_InuYasha's eyes had been opened wide during this and he immediately saw Sueko standing there and pushed the girl he was kissing away. _

_Sueko felt like doing something but she couldn't think of what—and besides, her body felt like it was temporarily paralyzed and she couldn't move an inch in shock. But she could already feel the tears well up in her eyes._

"_Sueko, it's—" started InuYasha._

"Bitch_," interrupted the girl, getting to her feet and glaring at Sueko. "You weren't supposed to show up!"_

"_Shut up!" snapped InuYasha, turning toward her._

"_Excuse me?" said the girl crankily, putting her hands on her hips. "Is that what you say to the girl you're supposed to love?"_

'_Supposed to love!' thought Sueko, feeling her heart sink. 'So he doesn't like _me_!'_

_Sueko noticed InuYasha hesitating before muttering, "I _did_ love Kagome…"_

_Kagome? Why was he bringing Kagome up now? But then it was almost like all the pieces started to come together… what if _this_ was Kagome? She looked the way everyone said she did… she was even wearing the same uniform as Sueko's school did. It was the only logical explanation—besides, everyone said only Kagome and InuYasha had ever been able to go through the well. Figuring this out, however, just made Sueko feel even worse…_

'_He really does prefer Kagome over me…'_

_Then the girl—well, Kagome—gave this very uncharacteristic smirk. Actually, Sueko didn't really get why she knew it was uncharacteristic since she had never met Kagome before. Then again, she had been getting these weird vibes from the girl since she ran into her and InuYasha kissing. But seeing this expression on Kagome's face just freaked out Sueko so much—plus her heart felt like it was about to explode, it hurt so much—Sueko just decided to turn around and run away and pray to God she might just wake up and find out it was all a dream._

"_SUEKO!" she could hear InuYasha scream from behind her. But she really didn't care… nor did she really want to see him, or think about him… In fact, she wasn't really thinking of anything as she dodged the trees in her way and pushed stray tree branches that were in her way without a care in the world. It took her a while to notice that her cheeks were wet and she was actually crying, but even then she didn't really give a damn._

_After a while all the running was making her tired so her pace slowed down slightly, but Sueko didn't stop running because she felt like if she stopped she would have to face reality and she really didn't want to do that… But suddenly she felt someone grab her by the hand and she spun around quickly to see whom it was._

"_Sueko…" InuYasha moaned softly to her._

_His eyes that were grey thanks to the new moon looked so large and sad it almost made Sueko hurt even more. She almost couldn't move again as her eyes went wide from looking at InuYasha's so entrancingly sad ones… But suddenly Sueko felt a surge of anger running through her from all the hurt feelings and she glared back at him as she jerked her hand away and turned around, heading for the Bone Eater's well… away from reality… Or, at least, Feudal Japan…_

Re-thinking the idea again as she continually dodged more and more of the stone ogre's blows to the head, Sueko noticed something different, something she hadn't noticed before. His eyes… they had looked so sad… but more than just sad. They looked full of hurt too, and something else… was it pity? They had almost looked like they were saying he was sorry or something… but for what?

It was then that it hit her. The ogre's stone arm almost hit her too because she had stopped dodging to instead think, but thankfully his aim was off and he missed her head by a few inches… but Sueko didn't care.

The memory kept flashing back at her in pieces… InuYasha and Kagome kissing, her eyes closed and his wide open as if in shock… him yelling at the girl for telling Sueko she shouldn't have shown up… him muttering, "I _did_ love Kagome"… him going after her, grabbing her hand, looking at her with those sad grey eyes and wanting to say something…

'He _did_ love me… He loved me this whole time and I've been such a total idiot with my hurt feelings—God, I _have_ been being a… well, _bitch_… But he did love me! This whole time!'

Sueko felt unbelievably happy and at the same time full of hurt. Because what in the hell was she supposed to do about it! Even if she did survive from this ogre—dodging all his blows was awfully tiring and she wouldn't be able to keep up with it much longer—there wasn't anything Sueko could do about it. If Sueko was ever able to see InuYasha's face again, what would she say to him? I'm sorry I hurt your feelings by running away and hating you! It was too late to do anything now…

Suddenly loud crashing noises filled her ears and the wall Sueko had been leaning on disappeared… that'd be because all around her the stonewalls were collapsing. And as all the dust from the stone went away Sueko noticed something behind her…

Nothing. Nothing was there. That'd be because right behind Sueko was a cliff… with what looked like an endless bottom. Okay, it had a bottom, but Sueko really couldn't see what it was… her breath was caught in her chest as she backed slowly away from the cliff, feeling as though with each small, timid, fearful step she took she didn't get far away from the cliff… actually, it felt like she was getting closer as it jeered threateningly at her…

A grunt from the ogre made Sueko turn her head to look at it. Another one of those stone arms swung at her and she jumped back from it… But then looking behind her she noticed that one heel of her foot was standing on the edge of the cliff. In surprise and in fear Sueko lost her balance, and no matter how hard she waved her arms she felt herself falling…

She screamed as the fear seemed to overwhelm her so much that she lost her sight and saw—nor felt or heard—not more.

* * *

"Yoshiko! Come on, wake up! Please, open your eyes!" came an urgent voice.

She moaned and lifted up a very heavy arm to her head. Trying to get her head to stop pounding, Yoshiko opened her eyes slowly. When she did she found herself looking into Utako's large grey eyes. Yoshiko moaned again, closed her eyes and pushed the girl away.

"Hey!" cried Utako, as Yoshiko got to her feet.

"What the hell happened?" asked Yoshiko hoarsely.

"Well that weak centipede demon snapped your sword like a twig. Then I killed it," said Koga, holding the two pieces in his hand.

"Crap," muttered Yoshiko, glaring at the remains of her sword as a vision of a very mad Takeno filled her head.

"Are you okay?" asked Utako, looking up at the half-demon, still sitting on the ground.

Before Yoshiko could say a word she noticed the vines around Koga's ankles grab him. At that same moment something grabbed her around the waist. She gasped at the impact and found vines circling around her arms and legs. Utako screeched and crawled away. When one of the vines tried to grab her she pulled out Yoshiko's dagger. As soon as the green snake-like thing came within a close distance of the dagger it withered and died. Blinking, Utako sat up and stared at the thing in her hand.

Surprisingly she didn't waste time but immediately got to her feet and ran over to Yoshiko. Utako attempted to chop the vines holding the half-demon's ankles. But it recoiled and hit Yoshiko hard on the wall. The girl bit her lip and instead turned to the vines completely covering Koga. Slowly and carefully she managed to cut through enough that the wolf demon could escape. Angrily he swept the dead vine bits off his shoulder and grabbed the dagger from Utako.

Just as he was cutting Yoshiko down, the walls collapsed in a pile of dust. The half-demon coughed and managed to stand up only by clinging onto Koga. When the dust cleared enough Yoshiko collapsed to the ground. Utako ran over and sat down next to her, looking frightened beyond belief. The woman smiled weakly at her and put an arm over Utako's shoulder.

"You're more useless with a knife than Godric!" stated Yoshiko, with a small chuckle.

At that Utako moaned and hid her face with her knees and hands. Yoshiko raised an eyebrow and looked up at Koga. He just shrugged and handed down her dagger. Then he walked off to see if he could find any of the others. This left Yoshiko to pat Utako awkwardly on the back. When the girl looked up Yoshiko was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"I miss him so much!" wailed Utako, in a way that would have been humorous if this hadn't been such a serious topic. "And what makes it even worse was it was almost like he _wanted_ to die…"

This last comment caught Yoshiko in the heart. Her already short breaths suddenly were harder to take. She coughed and bit her lip as if not to worry Utako. Finally she took a deep, shuddering breath (which made her thing a rib or two were broken).

"Do we need to talk about it?" asked Yoshiko in a low voice.

Immediately Utako nodded and quickly wiped her eyes. At first Yoshiko regretted her suggestion. But she soon realized this was her only way of getting involved in the part of her brother's life she missed. She wanted to know if the rumor's of his life was true. How he died and why. So when she finally got a hold of herself, amidst the ruins of the maze, Utako started to explain her last memories of Godric (though not in as much details as she remembered it).

_She could tell he was depressed. Just the other day he had heard that his sister, a half-demon, had attacked a village and burned it. So in an attempt to cheer him up Utako had made cookies! And they weren't just any cookies either. They were cookies her mother had taught her how to make. So they were very special. Plus she put them in a nice basket and put a pretty bow on it. Then she started on the quick walk from her village to Godric's._

_On her way she passed the Earth Shrine. Utako paused to look at the small hut in the hollow of the tree. She thought maybe Godric was in there but apparently he didn't know how to get through the barrier. Which she found silly since she went there all the time. Just as she was turning away a demon suddenly came out of the bushes. Screaming, Utako took her basket and threw the cookies at it._

_Despite this brave action she couldn't bring herself to run and hide. Not that it would be of much use because the attacking cookies didn't phase the demon one bit. It was a strange looking giant spider with eight shiny eyes, eight hairy legs and two really long, pointy fangs. In some weird way it hissed at her and started scuttling toward Utako. She screamed and took a step back but found she couldn't move much more out of fear. The large spider was bearing down on her and she knew at that moment it was all over…_

"_Utako!" cried a familiar voice._

_Just as the demon lashed out with one of its hairy legs, arms surrounded Utako and she felt somebody else take the blow. Then the arms became loose and she was being pushed to the ground. She felt herself pass through the barrier and come down hard on the ground. For a minute Utako just lay there, feeling sore all over. Because of the shield the sounds outside were faint and seemed to echo. Finally, shuddering slightly, she raised herself up and looked over her shoulder. When she did she saw, through the green haze, the spider lean forward and bite Godric on the shoulder. He cried out in pain and was then thrown back into the tree not too far away._

"_NO!" cried Utako, getting to her feet and turning all the way around._

"_Don't!" said Godric, holding up a hand. _

_But she didn't listen, but ran forward out of the barrier and stood between the demon and Godric. As the spider came closer her hand went instinctively to her pocket where she pulled out a rock she kept with her. When the demon kept coming toward them she threw the rock and it hit the spider on one of the eyes. Behind her she heard Godric moan and slide down the tree as the demon screeched in pain. Yet another rock flew from Utako's hand and hit the spider, almost breaking one of its legs off._

"_Utako, just get out of here. Run…" muttered Godric. With one rock in her hand Utako turned and fell to her knees, tears in her eyes._

"_I'm not leaving you!" she cried._

_Godric smiled sadly and put a hand on Utako's wet cheeks. "There's no point of dieing for me."_

"_What about you?" said Utako in a high-pitched voice._

_Before Godric could answer the spider loomed over them. Just as he was pushing Utako away, she closed her eyes and wished that the demon would just go away. Suddenly she felt a surge of energy come out of her hand and surround her and Godric. It almost sounded like lightning hitting metal when the spider collided with the shield. After attempting to get through the shield a couple of times, it decided to give up. Just as Utako was sighing the barrier disappeared and Godric fainted._

_It was three days later and Utako was still sitting there, watching Godric sleep hoping that at any moment he would open his eyes. Many times some of his well wishers stopped by and told her to try and get some rest. Each time Utako shook her head furiously until they dropped it. The only thing that really surprised her during these three days, however, was the fact that she couldn't seem to cry. She just sat there staring at him, feeling numb inside and out._

_Finally, one day, his eyes opened slowly and he smiled up at Utako sadly. Right away she knew that the only reason he had woke up was to say good-bye. Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes and she sat up, leaning over Godric. She grabbed his hand tightly with both of hers and held it up to her chest. When she did this Godric frowned and looked away from her desperate face._

"_I want to thank you…" muttered Godric quietly._

"_For what?" choked Utako, her voice higher pitched than she hoped for. "I should be thanking you! You saved my life, even though it put your life in danger… And you've always been there for me. Godric I—"_

"_If you ever get a chance please tell my sister that I miss her," whispered Godric, his eyes closing._

"_No!" shouted Utako, dropping his hand and grabbing his shoulders. "Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone again!"_

_When he didn't say anything the tears started coming faster and she pulled away. She started to reach out a hand then hesitated. Once Utako had thought it out a little bit more she reached forward and touched Godric lightly on the cheek. Already his skin was getting cold. She gasped and grabbed his shoulders again. Shaking him, she closed her eyes and let the tears flow._

"_It's not fair! Wake up… Please, wake up!" cried Utako "How could you just leave me here? I love you!"_

_Finally she gave up trying to wake him up and lay her head on Godric's chest. For the longest time she just lay there crying and wishing that he would just come back. Then somebody else walked into the hut. But she couldn't face them. Getting to her feet, she ran past the person and out of the small hut. All the way to the Earth Shrine she ran, crying. When she reached the shrine, she took the small table in the middle of the room and threw it to the ground. After a while she calmed down, collapsed to the ground and just sobbed till she fell asleep.

* * *

_

When Sueko regained consciousness she felt utterly exhausted. Like it had been the middle of the night and something had woken her but she was so tired she didn't even feel like getting up to see what it was. But she didn't feel any pain at all… and a breeze was blowing through her hair… and this familiar scent filled her noise that smelled really good and made her feel safe and protected… and also made her heart all fluttery and make her smile in a content sort of way. 

It was then that Sueko's eyes opened wide. She had just fallen off a cliff, so why in the hell was she feeling so content with these warm-fuzzy feelings for! She saw the ground below her, which made her grip tighter—but wait, what was she gripping onto? Half her face was covered with hair, but it wasn't her hair because it was too soft… it was silver…

Sueko lifted her head. She had to shake her head to make her own hair get out of her face—the breeze was so strong it was making her hair go everywhere—but she finally noticed the material her hands were gripped to so tightly: red cloth.

Her numb, sleepy brain finally woke up. She wasn't feeling wind, she was flying… on InuYasha… which just sounded so weird when put together but her brain woke up enough to figure out that InuYasha must have seen her falling and picked her up. So they were soaring…

Sueko put her head back down, closed her eyes and smiled. She could get used to this! But just as she started to feel content and those warm-fuzzy feelings returned it felt as though InuYasha had reached sold ground because the breeze stopped and she felt a sudden jerk as gravity did its work. She opened her eyes just as InuYasha pulled her off his back and turn around to look at her, but seeing that she was all right his tense face relaxed and he let go of her hands and left her.

Sueko almost felt hurt about him leaving her like this but looking at the direction he was going she could see why. Just to her right stood that Minotaur demon thing that had gotten them into this stupid maze in the first place.

"Done with your little games?" snapped InuYasha as he pulled out Tetsusaiga and faced the demon.

"Who said I started?" said the demon, looking kind of bored of it all ready.

"I don't want to hear any of your crap!" said InuYasha. "I just want you to die!"

After the demon dodged a few of the Tetsusaiga's blows InuYasha tried the Wind Scar on him… but that didn't work… When the demon angrily swung his arm at InuYasha a large rock hit his head. The demon stopped and looked at the direction it had come from. So did Sueko.

About ten feet behind Sueko stood Miroku, Sango, Yoshiko and Koga, looking cheerfully back at Sueko and InuYasha. Utako was about five feet away from the group looking quite angry and holding another rock in her hand, ready to throw another one at the demon.

"Do that again and I'll throw another one!" said Utako threateningly.

* * *

When Utako was finished telling what she felt like explaining of her memories Yoshiko was surprised to feel she wasn't crying. Giving the girl an extra tight squeeze, she got to her feet. As she did so, the pain in her ribs came back and she doubled over in pain. Amazingly Koga was there at that very moment and put a hand around her arm. Smiling weakly, she looked up and saw Miroku and Sango come up behind the wolf demon. Then, just as Yoshiko was starting feel the pain going away again, all five of them heard InuYasha cry "WIND SCAR!"

Immediately Utako swept up some rocks and started running in the direction the sound had come from. Miroku and Sango only paused long enough to exchange glances but then they too rushed after the sound. Just as Yoshiko started to stumble after them, Koga took her up in his arms and ran after the other three. If it had been any other day she would have gotten annoyed and hit him hard over the head. But at the moment she really wasn't in the mood to yell at anybody, least of all Koga. Especially since it meant she didn't have to walk. Just as they were reaching the spot where InuYasha and Sueko were, Utako threw a rock that hit the Minotaur demon square on the head.

"Do that again and I'll throw another one!" said Utako threateningly. She held up another, larger stone just to let him know she was serious. The demon, however, found it amusing.

"How pathetic! A young mortal girl who thinks she can kill me with a rock," laughed the Minotaur, the ground shaking with the loud, harsh sound. It almost sounded like stone scraping. "This half-demon's large sword can't even destroy me!"

"Yoshiko!" cried Sueko, seeing the half tiger demon clinging to Koga. "Are you okay? Can you use your special attack?"

"Love to," said Yoshiko, clutching her side in pain. "However my sword was turned into scrape metal by a lovely acid spitting snake."

"Snake?" said Koga, scratching his head in confusion. "I thought it was a centipede!"

"Acid spitting centipede?" said Sango, raising her eyebrows. "That's one I haven't heard."

Yoshiko sighed, not feeling in the mood to argue. The point was her sword was broken and there was no way she was going to be of any help. Suddenly, however, she recalled part of Utako's story—the part where the girl had felt a surge of energy come out of her hand. A hand that had been holding a stone. Could it have been…? Turning to the ferocious looking girl, Yoshiko pulled out her dagger and handed to her. Utako looked at the thing in her hand then blinked up at Yoshiko.

"Throw _that_ at the demon!" said Yoshiko with a small smile.

For a minute longer Utako just looked at the half tiger demon in confusion. But finally the girl shrugged and turned toward the demon again. Everybody else was glancing at Yoshiko trying to get an answer out of her. But she just watched as Utako awkwardly held the dagger and finally threw it. The throw was a little sloppy and only hit the minotaur's horse shoulder and bounced to the ground. InuYasha moaned and glared over at Yoshiko. But she just stood there patiently as Utako glared angrily at the faulty dagger.

Suddenly flames burst from the tip of the dagger and for a while just seemed like a small candle. Then it circled around the demon's hooves and up his legs, engulfing him in flame. It almost seemed like he was frozen in fear or the flames were far more substantial than ordinary fire. Either way the minotaur was unable to move and soon it nothing more than ashes. Silence filled the rubble filled clearing. Finally everybody turned toward Utako and Yoshiko, causing the younger girl to start blushing.

"What the _hell_ was that?" cried InuYasha, sheathing his sword.

"Can we like talk about this tomorrow?" asked Yoshiko, putting a hand to her head. "I've got a huge headache, probably a few broken ribs and I'm really tired."

"Broken ribs?" cried Koga in worriment. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" With that he grabbed Yoshiko and picked her up again.

Rolling her eyes Yoshiko responded, "Because of this reaction exactly…"

"Huh?" said Koga, blinking.

"Never mind…" muttered Yoshiko, feeling her eyes starting to droop. "I think I'm just going to go with the flow and go to sleep…"

"But… but… but…" stammered Utako. "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE HECK I DID!"

Despite this Yoshiko's eyes closed completely and she slipped off to sleep… in Koga's arms of all places.

* * *

I'm in a _Wolf's Rain_ mood. But it's not on TV so it's not like I can watch it or anything… _sigh_ Anyways, arigato (thank you) to all the people who replied. If you don't mind, I'm going to reply to all the replies because I have nothing else to do on the computer!

**icygirl2:** Iwau on getting a username! Iwau means celebrate by the way… And will it make you happier to know that Ravyn and I have thought up a sequel? 'Cause we have…

**elemental hanyou:** That's not corny! How can it be if I don't see any corn around it? Okay, THAT was corny… I'm in a pathetic mood… This is what I get for watching my friend's _Fooly Cooly_ today… I'm on like the third episode. It's all very very very very veryveryvery weird! But anyways, moving on…

**BlackTearsOfDarkness:** Read your new fan fic! And even though I haven't read chapter two yet I already like it. And I don't even like Malfoy so how messed up is that! Whatever… It's good to know that you're trying to catch up. Sorry for making it harder for you to catch up by posting yet MORE… but eventually you'll read all of it and I have yet to update and then you'll be wanting more, so you'd then be grateful that I did post that extra chapter… Gosh, what a mouthful! Okay, shutting up now so I can actually POST this instead of babbling about doing so. Because what's the point of talking about it?


	25. That Rainy Night

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**Either I did actually edit this but never uploaded it because of that stupid evil huge humongous slide show and speech project on the Indian peoples of the Pacific Northwest that took up all my time the past two weeks (this is what you get for living in the state of Washington: You get to take a class to learn all about it's history. Which is great and all… IF THE SUBJECT OF YOUR HOME WAS ACTUALLY INTERESTING! Okay, I'm kinda cranky… watch out or I'll spew colorful language like our own whittle half dog demon, except I do this normally, so expect more of it!) or I didn't edit it but that'd be because the only mistakes were like three and they were really minor and self-explanatory so who cares? Ravyn wrote them anyways! I'm a grammar freak so I try to fix my mistakes… and I have good perception so I see all the words surrounding what I just wrote, so it's hard for me to NOT see my mistakes after I just wrote them… If that just made any sense. Anyways, the ending is rather lame, but it was a really long chapter that we had to split into two… we seem to have this problem a lot… Maybe we write too much… Perhaps we should stop… And you know I'm just kidding so why bother with the joke?

**DISCLAIMER  
**Because I'm the unluckiest girl in the world this week I don't own InuYasha, or Koga, or Sesshomaru… but if I could date them I would—wait, I meant OWN the story I could… Okay, I wouldn't want to even date Sesshomaru. He's not my type. Yes, he's hot, yes, he's an okay guy, but too quiet for me, sorry! InuYasha would be fun to tease and get into arguments with, and Koga… he's just awesome! He's so freakin' hot! And this has nothing to do with my disclaimer so moving on…

You know the drill: if you haven't seen something from here on the TV show chances are WE OWN IT! OMFG, that was soooooooo hard to figure out!

Here's fan fic:

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: That Rainy Night**

When she came back to consciousness Yoshiko lay there for another ten minutes, not really wanting to get up. It was way too comfortable and she was sure as soon as she moved an inch somebody would pounce her, demanding answers. Finally, however, she groaned and sat up. The fact that nobody was sitting around in the hut left her a little puzzled. But she continued to get up and dress. Then she slowly walked out of the hut. As soon as she pulled back the flap she saw everybody waiting outside each with there own face of impatience. Except for Sueko. She seemed to be daydreaming. About what, Yoshiko really didn't know and really didn't care.

"What are you doing?" asked Yoshiko, blinking at the odd group.

"Waiting for you to wake up!" snapped InuYasha. "Took you long enough. It would have only taken half that time for my wounds to have healed."

Glaring Yoshiko walked over and hit him over the head with her fist. Probably not for the first time she wished she had the same power as Sueko to just say 'sit' and have him fall to the ground. However that special gift only came to a girl that was too soft to do it all the time. And at the moment she wasn't even paying attention. Not to Yoshiko anyways. Maybe not even InuYasha.

"Why didn't you just wake me up if you were that impatient? I think I could have coped," sighed Yoshiko.

Simultaneously Utako and InuYasha pointed at Koga.

"He wouldn't let us!" pouted Utako.

Yoshiko rolled her eyes and hit InuYasha on the head again since she couldn't necessarily hit Utako. Well, she could but the girl was farther away and it would be a little mean. Plus nobody would protest against her hitting InuYasha. Maybe Sueko but _she_ wasn't paying attention! Finally Yoshiko took a deep breath and crossed her arms.

"Okay in some weird way Utako has some sort of weird spiritual powers connected to the element stones and since my dagger has a fire stone in it—supposedly—she was able to tap into that power and kill the demon," she explained in one breath.

"Huh?" said Sueko, looking at her finally and blinking.

In answer Yoshiko hit the girl on the head. Again Sueko blinked and rubbed her head in confusion.

"Welcome back!" said Yoshiko with a small grin.

"When did I leave?" asked Sueko.

"I don't know. You certainly weren't here!" said Yoshiko.

"Huh?"

"You're hopeless," sighed Yoshiko, turning away.

Then suddenly the events in the maze came back to her. She recalled her sword in two pieces and suddenly started feeling guilty. Takeno had just told her to take better care of it too! What was she supposed to do? She certainly wasn't just going to go up to him and ask him to fix it. Most likely she would get several bumps on the head. Laughing guiltily Yoshiko turned around toward Sueko, grinning hopefully.

"Sueko, you're one of my bestest best friends, right?" said Yoshiko sweetly.

"Uh…" said Sueko, backing away half a step. "What do you want?"

"You see, my sword kind of sort of needs to be repaired," said Yoshiko, scratching her head guiltily.

"Well, then you should take it to Takeno," said Sango, rolling her eyes.

"See that's the thing… Um… I'd rather not face Takeno by myself and I was hoping Sueko would go with," said Yoshiko, not looking at anybody.

"Well, have fun with that," said Utako, putting her hands behind her head. She turned away and noticed Miroku still holding the earth stone. "I'll take that," she said, pulling it out of his hand and running off.

"Uh, hey!" cried Miroku. But too late, Utako was already running off with it. "Why that little…"

"Isn't that just cute?" laughed Sango. Yoshiko shook her head sadly, turning back to Sueko.

"So…" she prompted.

"So what?" said Sueko, still blinking.

"Will you get your small head out of dreamland and pay attention to this very important topic I have brought up?" cried Yoshiko. "I WOULD LIKE TO KEEP MY EARS RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"You're pathetic," laughed InuYasha. "You're a half-demon afraid of an old man."

Almost as if too lazy to walk over and hit him, Yoshiko took Sango's large boomerang and hit him with that instead. Just to make sure she didn't do even more damage Sango took her weapon back and walked off. But Yoshiko didn't really care, she just stood over InuYasha with her hands on her hips.

"You're so lucky I'm not Sueko! If I was her I would use that necklace as often as I could," snapped Yoshiko. "Sheesh, can't I be afraid of something? Besides, you didn't grow up with him!"

"I grew up in a human village as well," growled InuYasha from the ground. "And I'm not afraid of anybody from there!"

"Well I'm sure you didn't have village boys throwing rocks at you or old men threatening to pull off your ears if you didn't learn to respect your elders or other stupid reasons like that!" snapped Yoshiko. "Whatever, you've always acted strong and tough so you probably have no clue what I'm talking about."

"Okay, that's enough!" cried Sueko, walking over and hitting both InuYasha and Yoshiko on the head, though she hit Yoshiko far harder than InuYasha. "Let's just take your stupid sword to that old guy and get it fixed so nobody's having to protect you! That would just get annoying."

"Well, you'll need this," said Koga, handing the two halves of Yoshiko's sword. She looked down at the pieces sadly then back at the wolf demon. "Now I'll be off! See ya!"

"Hey! Wait one minute!" cried Yoshiko, putting her hands on her hips again. "That's it? You're just going to leave?"

"Yeah…" said Koga, stopping to think. "Why would I stay?"

"Oh, whatever," sighed Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. At this a glint came to Koga's eyes and he walked over to Yoshiko and took her hands in his. This caused the pieces of the sword to drop to the ground.

"I get it! After I saved you from those vines you fell in love with me!" said Koga. "I knew if I only waited patiently—"

He would have continued but Yoshiko tore her hands from his grasp and hit him on the head. Surprisingly enough she was blushing slightly and quickly turned away from the wolf demon. Sighing Koga turned back to the others grinning in embarrassment. Then he shrugged and ran off, the wind rustling Yoshiko's hair slightly. When InuYasha turned toward her he walked over closer to look at Yoshiko's face. She blinked at him then pushed him away.

"What the hell InuYasha?" she said, not looking at him.

"You're blushing…" he muttered.

"Excuse me?" cried Yoshiko.

"I said you're blushing!" shouted InuYasha.

"I am not!" screamed Yoshiko, her cheeks flushing an even brighter pink.

"You are too!" snapped InuYasha.

"Shut up!" yelled Yoshiko, covering her cheeks and turning away.

"So, do you like wolf boy?" asked InuYasha mischievously.

"What?" shrieked Yoshiko, turning toward InuYasha with the intent of hitting him. But she turned around he started laughing.

"I'm just joking," he said. "Sheesh. It's quite obvious that you like Sesshomaru more than Koga!"

"I thought you hated Sesshomaru!" said Shippo, hopping up onto InuYasha's shoulder.

"He hasn't tried to kill me lately so I don't really have a reason to hate him," shrugged InuYasha. "Not like I'll suddenly become his best friend any time soon or something like that."

"That would be just plain weird," said Yoshiko. "Even I would find that awkward…"

"Are we going to get your sword fixed or not…" sighed Sueko, grabbing her bag and sword

Yoshiko shrugged and turned to Miroku because she was bored of talking to InuYasha. "So we'll be back in a couple of days. See you soon!"

"Hey, wait!" cried InuYasha as Yoshiko started after Sueko. "I thought we were going to be able to meet this Takeno guy!"

"I don't feel like dragging you guys along this time, sorry," shouted Yoshiko over her shoulder, then running to catch up with Sueko and putting her arm over her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" asked Sueko timidly.

"So… How's it going with you and InuYasha?" asked Yoshiko mischievously.

"Fine, I guess… Why?" asked Sueko, pulling away from Yoshiko.

"Just wondering because you seemed to be in dreamland back there… and here… and if I don't do anything you'll go back there and completely ignore me… again," explained Yoshiko.

"What?" said Sueko, blinking.

"What's up with you anyways? You seem awfully quiet," said Yoshiko, crossing her arms.

"I'm fine," muttered Sueko, turning away. "So how did your sword break again?"

"See this idiotic serpent demon thought it could steal my dagger. So me and InuYasha went after it except for the Wind Scar and my fire attacks wouldn't kill it. Then it decided it was arrogant enough to spit freakin' acid at me which I blocked with my sword…" said Yoshiko, glaring off at some random tree or another.

"Maybe you were the idiot and not the snake…" muttered Sueko.

"Who's telling this story?" yelled Yoshiko, turning toward Sueko.

"You…" said Sueko, taking a half step away from the half-demon.

"So don't interrupt!" snapped Yoshiko. Then she took a deep breath and continued. "I realized what a big mistake I made and sheathed the sword. Which meant that I didn't have much of weapon against that ugly snake. So just as I thought it was all over… Sesshomaru killed the damn thing!"

"Huh? What?" cried Sueko. "Since when was he there? I thought it was you and InuYasha fighting the demon!"

"Well, Sesshomaru showed up, okay?" snapped Yoshiko.

"Then say that!" said Sueko.

"If you had let me _finish_ I would have," hissed Yoshiko.

"Okay, what did Sesshomaru do?" asked Sueko, sighing.

"Well, after he killed the damn thing, like I _already_ said," explained Yoshiko huffily, "he decided he was still mad at me and left. But I guess Rin was getting annoyed by me and Sesshomaru fighting. So she decided to stay behind and Sesshomaru, because he's so freakin' stubborn, left. Then I guess he met up with Rheda and she possessed him!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" said Sueko, waving her hands around. "Rheda possessed him? That would mean… Wouldn't they have had to kiss for that to happen?"

"Yeah… why?" shrugged Yoshiko.

"And you don't _care_?" cried Sueko.

"Well, it wasn't like they were ever in love with each other or something like that," said Yoshiko off handedly. "Besides I don't have to worry about Rheda falling in love with him at all. She's got this weird policy where she doesn't breed out of species."

"Okay… and I care _why?_" asked Sueko.

"You talking to me or to yourself?" laughed Yoshiko.

"Both…" said Sueko. "I think…"

"Whatever," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. "We'll be at Takeno's in like ten minutes. So you can like go off into dreamland for a little while."

"Huh?"

* * *

The ocean waves lapped against the beach as the two girls walked onto it. Seeing the little hut Yoshiko moaned and started to turn around. But Sueko sighed and grabbed her arm, half dragging her to see Takeno. Yoshiko hung her head sadly and adjusted her bag so the pieces of her sword would be less noticeable. When they finally reached the hut, Sueko had to practically push Yoshiko up to the flap. Finally the half-demon sighed and walked in, dragging her feet slightly. Inside sat the old man, watching the door as if expecting the two girls to walk in. In fact as soon as Yoshiko walked in, he got to his feet, walked over to her and grabbed her bag.

"Hey! Wait!" cried Yoshiko, as Takeno took the bag back to his table.

He opened it to see the inside contents and pulled out the pieces of her sword. Out of the corner of his eye Takeno glared up at Yoshiko and swept away her belongings onto the ground. He picked up the pieces and held them up to the little light streaming in through the window. Then he threw the pieces behind him and sat down all the way legs crossed. Yoshiko gasped as her broken sword hit the ground with a clang.

"What was that for?" she cried.

"They're crap. I can't fix them! You'll have to get a new sword," said Takeno.

"But… I liked my sword!" whined Yoshiko. At this Sueko hit her on the head and sat down at the table.

"You're the one that broke it!" snapped Takeno.

"You guys are mean! I don't know why I brought Sueko along," muttered Yoshiko, sitting down as well.

"Because you're pathetic," said Sueko, crossing her arms. "Now are you going to figure out how to fix your sword problem?"

"Well where the heck am I going to get a _new_ sword?" snapped Yoshiko. "Like in the next day so InuYasha doesn't get worried because you've been gone for so long…"

Sueko moaned and hit her head on the table. While Yoshiko stared at the girl in confusion Takeno reached out a hand and patted Sueko on the head. Then the girl lifted up her head a little bit and looked at Takeno.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a little frightened.

"Being a grandfather!" said Takeno.

"But… you're _her_ grandfather!" said Sueko, pointing an almost accusing finger at Yoshiko.

"Well, you two basically act like sisters so I can act like your grandfather as well!" said Takeno, grinning.

"Ha!" laughed Yoshiko. "You never acted like _my_ grandfather so why should you suddenly change your tune now?"

"Because Sueko is such a good girl and listens to her elders," said the old man, leaning back and closing his eyes with a grin.

"I told you he liked you…" muttered Yoshiko.

Sueko only just smiled at her as the half-demon sighed and put her head on the table. Finally she looked back up again and crossed her arms.

"So how much for a new sword?" hissed Yoshiko at the old man.

"Absolutely nothing!" cried Takeno in horror. "You're my granddaughter? Why would I charge you for a sword?"

"Because you're weird that way," murmured Yoshiko. "So what's the catch?"

"You have to promise not to abuse it!" snapped Takeno.

"Abuse… Abuse it! Why would I abuse it?" cried Yoshiko.

"Because you abused your last one," said Takeno wearily as if the thought pained him.

"I did not!" shouted Yoshiko.

"Sheesh, Yoshiko! Calm down," said Sueko, a little amused. "It isn't that big of a deal!"

"Let us see… Leaving your sword laying around without a sheath and letting a 19 year-old that knows nothing about swords pick it up…" said Takeno thoughtfully. "That's abuse!"

"The sword was getting crappy anyways," muttered Yoshiko, turning away. "But whatever. I promise not to abuse my new sword…"

"Good, now go away!" said Takeno, standing up.

"What?" said Sueko.

"Well, it sounds like there are people who would be worried about you so you need to get going!" said Takeno. "Besides I can't work with people around!"

"It's late and we can't exactly go anywhere in the dark!" cried Sueko.

"That's not true," said Yoshiko, standing up and going to the window. "I can see perfectly outside."

"Well, you're a freakin cat demon!" snapped Sueko. This earned her a hit on the head.

"Tiger… half tiger demon!" hissed Yoshiko. "Cat demons are idiots that think they're better than everybody else! Do _not_ confuse me for one of _them_!"

"Ow…" muttered Sueko.

"I guess you could stay the night. But as soon as the sun comes up you're out of here!" said Takeno, leaving the hut.

"Yay! I get to sleep," said Sueko with a small yawn.

"You're just happy because you don't have to face InuYasha," muttered Yoshiko, sitting down again.

With one last glare Sueko pulled out one of her books and started to "read" it. Yoshiko rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall of the hut, crossing her arms. Ten minutes passed and finally she got annoyed. She pulled the book out of Sueko's hands and took away the girl's bag.

"Hey!" cried Sueko.

"Either you're going to stay up talking to me or you're going to go to sleep!" snapped Yoshiko.

"I don't want to talk," said Sueko huffily, crossing her arms and looking away.

"But you need to talk…" muttered Yoshiko. "Whatever then. Go to sleep and we'll get going in the morning."

"What about you?" asked Sueko.

"I'm not tired! I just got more than enough sleep after I got injured. So I'll just wait," shrugged Yoshiko.

"You're just going to sit there all night!" cried Sueko.

"Why not?" asked Yoshiko.

"I can't go to sleep if you're just going to watch me!" said Sueko.

"Fine, I'll go outside," said Yoshiko huffily, standing up and leaving.

"Fine! Be that way!"

* * *

It was pouring down rain. Like, not just raining, but DUMPING, soaking everything in sight within seconds. With it hitting the roof and walls of the hut it might have explained Sueko's lack of sleep. But actually, she was a pretty sound sleeper and a little thing like rain wouldn't disturb her sleep at all. No, it was something more…

A whole week had gone by since they had visited Takeno and Sueko really hadn't gotten that much sleep at all for the past seven nights. Nor had she really spoken to anyone, or did much of anything, really. And if you narrowed it down it was all InuYasha's fault!

Okay, not really… it was more of Sueko's fault, actually. But she knew that one of these days she would have to explain to InuYasha… or apologize… or just plain talk to the guy or _something_! But she could never think of what to say. Or how to say it. Or when she should actually _say_ it. And she was always afraid of how InuYasha would react to it.

So she basically hadn't really talked to him—or anyone, really—at all. And then whenever Yoshiko or Sango pestered her about her feelings—for Sueko had been looking awfully depressed—she'd just say nothing was wrong and then seem to ignore everyone and everything happening around her. Nothing really mattered anymore. All that mattered was that Sueko _had_ to apologize for everything that'd happened for the past four weeks.

If only she could string together the words and get the guts to speak them.

It was when Sueko was laying there on her mat in the middle of the night listening to the rain that she sat up—after all, with all these thoughts drifting through her head she wouldn't get much sleep done anyways. Her hazel-green eyes looked at the room around her and it was then that Sueko noticed that InuYasha wasn't there at all.

Worried, and a bit curious as well, Sueko picked up her sword and lifted the flap to go outside. Once she stepped outside she regretted it—in a matter of seconds the rain had soaked her brown hair, making it stick to her face; it drenched her red shirt and made her uncovered legs freezing. The sandals did no good to protect her feet from both the wetness and the cold so her socks were soaked as well.

Sighing, Sueko shook her head to get the wet hair out of her face, and then walked away from the hut with her eyes squinting into the darkness and rain.

Despite the rain everything was relatively peaceful. No evil demon with some crazy plot to kill them all was in sight. Walking around, Sueko saw nothing in front of her. While standing underneath a tree—she hoped it would protect her from the rain but it did no good seeing how there were no leaves on the trees, being late February and all—Sueko had the sudden urge to look up at the tree, and was glad that she did.

Ignoring the rain, the missing half dog demon was sitting on a tree branch, looking deep in thought even for him as he looked towards the distance.

Sueko sighed as the same thoughts went streaming through her head; 'Now would be the perfect time to explain it to him. No one is around, after all…'

Sueko shook her head at her own thoughts. She couldn't tell him. She just _couldn't_. It was just too _hard_… too painful to remember the last new moon and the events that followed afterwards. Too painful to have to think that all of it was _her_ fault…

Well, "Kagome" kissing InuYasha wasn't her fault… but everything afterwards was. How could she be so cruel to an innocent person?

A sudden noise startled Sueko and stopped her thoughts. Sueko looked up just as InuYasha finished saying, "What are you doing out here! Don't you know it's pouring down rain? You could get sick! You shouldn't—"

"InuYasha."

It wasn't a question. But Sueko said it in such a timid, quiet voice that she noticed his eyes go wide and, before she could do anything about it, InuYasha had jumped off his tree branch, grabbed Sueko by the shoulders and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" muttered Sueko, looking down at the ground. Immediately afterwards she thought of how stupid she had been for saying it—she could have explained everything right then and there and be done with it! But perhaps after a week of denying her feelings it was just habit now to do so.

She knew she should say _something_ but nothing came to mind, and every time she opened her mouth no words ever came out. And when she couldn't think of anything to say she started to feel the tears well up in her eyes, and before she knew it Sueko could feel the tears streaming down her face. She ended up crying so much the rain couldn't even disguise the tears cascading down her cheeks.

"InuYasha!" Sueko cried through her tears. She put her arms around him as she cried, "I'm sorry!"

She could tell InuYasha was surprised by both her movements and her words but she really didn't care. Eventually he croaked out, "Sorry for what?"

"For everything!"

Okay, Sueko knew right away that probably made no sense but, again, she didn't exactly care that much. She was just really, really, _really sorry_!

She removed her arms from InuYasha's shoulders and he did too as she sniffled a little and wiped the tears off her face as best as she could with her wet hand. Which, to tell you the truth, wasn't that much. Then she said as clearly as she could with her extremely high-pitched, squeaky voice that she had thanks to all the crying, "I know that it meant nothing. The kiss, I mean… I know that _now_, that is… I mean, I've been mad at you for all this time when you never did anything in the first place and I'm _sorry_! I just… I just want everything to be normal again… like it used to… Even if you never liked me in that way in the first place…"

Sueko could feel her chin tremble but she refused to cry again even as the tears started welling up in her eyes. She also refused to look at InuYasha's face, forcing her gaze to the extremely wet ground… she wasn't sure she could handle his reaction to what she had just said. Especially the last part because it basically said, "I love you." And what if she was wrong and he _didn't_ like her in that way?

As long as she had waited for InuYasha's reply, Sueko was pretty disappointed when all he said was, "That's _it_?"

Sueko jerked her head up and looked straight into his eyes. "What do you mean _that's it_!"

"That's all you've been upset about for the past week?" said InuYasha, smiling slightly.

'More like the last _four weeks_!' But Sueko just said, "Um… yeah…" Was the rain blinding her sight or did he look a bit relieved?

"I thought it was something a lot worse or something…" InuYasha muttered, but he was actually looking pretty cheerful now, which sort of annoyed Sueko.

"That's it?" cried Sueko. "Tada, let's forget about everything!"

InuYasha frowned. "That's not what I said…"

Sueko sighed. She might not be an expert in the "love-department" but aren't you supposed to get a bigger reaction out of something that suggests that you _like_ the guy!

"But…" said Sueko, her voice getting sort of shaky again. "But…what about us? Are we just going to live the rest of our lives and not do anything at all?"

"What do you mean…" said InuYasha slowly.

"You never say anything!" said Sueko, sort of embarrassed at her own boldness. "You just stand there acting all indifferent all the time. I know I'm the protector of a Spirit Shrine but I'm not _physic_! How in the hell am I supposed to know what you think and feel about things if you never say anything? How am I supposed to know…" muttered Sueko, feeling her cheeks becoming damp yet again—and it wasn't the rain that was doing it, either, "How am I supposed to know… if you… _like me_?"

Sueko didn't care about the tears falling down her face. She didn't care that it was pouring down rain. She didn't care that it was the middle of the night and she was frozen from both the cold and dampness. All she cared about was whether or not she was right; whether or not InuYasha did like her.

In her talking her eyes had drifted to her wet feet but Sueko suddenly jerked her head up to look at InuYasha's face. He wasn't saying anything and maybe she'd be able to read the expression on his face instead. But it was unreadable. He just looked like he was surprised at what she had said, which wasn't helping any. But then when InuYasha noticed Sueko was looking at him his face softened and before Sueko could do anything about it he leaned over and put his arms around her.

Sueko felt it difficult to breathe as her heart rate quickened and she felt herself become tense in surprise. And then she felt a weird sensation around her stomach as InuYasha said her name.

"Sueko… How could you ever think I _didn't_ like you?"

Her body went numb. Her mind even went numb for about a minute, but in the good way… and once her brain started to work again she couldn't think of anything to do or say. What would you say to something like that? Out of all the romance movies and books she had ever watched or read she couldn't think of a single thing to do. But she had to do _something_… So, not being able to think of anything else, Sueko settled for putting her arms around InuYasha too and lean her head on his shoulder… well, just below his shoulder.

The two just stood there in the pouring down rain, Sueko smiling and enjoying InuYasha's warmth—she was really cold! But then suddenly InuYasha let go of Sueko so quickly he almost pushed her, and before she could react to it she noticed InuYasha starting to take his shirt off…

"Don't do that!" cried Sueko. "It's like twenty degrees out here! You'll freeze to death!"

Then she shut up once she saw that he was wearing a white shirt under the red one, which was okay to wear in cold weather… Sueko had just assumed he had nothing underneath. But then InuYasha shoved his red shirt at her and said, "_You're_ the one who's going to freeze to death! You're completely frozen! I told you not to come out here!"

Sueko kind of ignored his yelling as she stared at the red shirt, figuring out how in the hell she was supposed to put it on. Eventually she just decided to put it over her head and wear it like it was just a normal shirt, ignoring its extremely long sleeves and baggy torso. Grinning pathetically—she was just so darn happy!—Sueko looked up at InuYasha with her arms up a bit, which made the sleeves look huge on her.

InuYasha looked at her with his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised. Then he laughed. "You look like an idiot like that!"

Sueko laughed too. "It was your idiotic idea!"

"Okay, now you're going inside and going to _sleep_, you hear me?" said InuYasha, pushing her towards the hut.

"Fine, Mr. Bossy," pouted Sueko. "But what if I'm not tired?"

"Too bad. You realize we haven't gotten any of the stupid stones for a long time? I'd like to hurry up and collect the damn things so I can move on!" said InuYasha.

"They're not stupid stones, they're powerful," said Sueko, laughing. "Get it right!"

Walking into the hut Sueko noticed two things: one, Yoshiko's sleeping spot was empty; and two, Yoshiko was leaning against the wall right besides the door with her arms crossed and a grin on her face.

"Don't tell me you've been standing there the whole time!" cried Sueko, feeling the color rush to her cheeks.

"So what if I have?" asked Yoshiko, still grinning. "Nice outfit."

Gritting her teeth, Sueko stood on her tip toes while attempting to hit Yoshiko, but there was too much distance between them and the sleeves of the shirt kept getting in the way. Yoshiko laughed at Sueko's lame attempts to hit her, and suddenly they heard someone behind them yawning.

"What's going on?" asked Sango, rubbing her eyes and yawning again as she sat up. Miroku and Shippo were up to, Miroku blinking in confusion and Shippo looking from InuYasha to Sueko to Yoshiko.

"Why are you wearing InuYasha's shirt for?" asked Miroku sleepily.

Moaning, Sueko covered her red face with the huge sleeves of the shirt and cried, "Can I just disappear now? _Please_…"

* * *

The rain disappeared a day later and the group was able to start traveling again. Plus it seemed like winter was slowly turning into spring as they enjoyed warm sunshine for a while and animal life started showing up again. Then again, it was almost March, so it wasn't too surprising.

Sueko had been pathetically happy for about a whole entire week, which annoyed Sueko but everyone else found cute. Even InuYasha was acting happy—well, happy for him. Sueko found herself walking and talking with the guy all the time now, which was so weird but at the same time felt perfectly normal. Though Yoshiko was kind of perky too and teased them once and a while about it. It was times like these where Sueko wished 'sit' would work on the half-tiger demon.

Eventually Sueko got over being "pathetically happy," which she was extremely glad for—she found that she embarrassed herself more often when she was in that kind of mood. But with the sunny weather and time to kill when the group stopped to rest Sueko had taken up drawing again. Actually, she hadn't drawn in so long that none of her doodles were ever that good and she got extremely annoyed whenever someone—well, Yoshiko—wanted to see what she had been doing. But seeing how all Sueko had ever been able to do was draw cats, she tried drawing Kirara whenever she could. Normally Kirara was a very good model and rarely moved but today she just would not stop scratching herself!

"I don't care if you're itchy. Stop that!" cried Sueko, pointing her pencil threateningly at the cat. Kirara just meowed boredly back. Sueko often wondered if the cat demon could understand what she was saying but had never felt like going over to Sango and asking—besides, she doubt Sango even knew the answer to that, and it was her cat.

"What are you yelling at Kirara for?" asked InuYasha boredly, sitting next to Sueko. She found this odd and kind of random but figured InuYasha had grown bored talking to Miroku or Yoshiko so he decided to talk to her. Which was still kind of weird for Sueko.

"She won't stop moving," said Sueko, putting her chin on her knees, thinking it was a clever way to block her drawing so InuYasha wouldn't be able to see it.

Just as Sueko spoke Kirara started scratching her lower back again with her hind leg. And suddenly a speck of something had bounced off Kirara. But it didn't just lay on the grass; it continued bouncing around. It hopped onto InuYasha's knee, and then hopped up to InuYasha's forehead.

"What the hell…" muttered Sueko, staring at the thing on InuYasha's forehead and completely forgetting about hiding her picture.

Sighing, InuYasha slapped his hand on his forehead, and brought the hand back down to reveal a squished bug in his hand. But it looked kind of human… well, it was wearing clothes despite its many arms.

"What the hell!" repeated Sueko.

"Ow…" said—of all things—the bug, raising one of its hand to rub its sore head. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"What are you doing here?" said InuYasha moodily. "You show up and disappear for six months, and then decide to show up again!"

"No need to yell!" said the bug on InuYasha's hand, standing up and shaking himself till he became un-flat.

"What in the hell are you!" cried Sueko. "A demonic beetle that talks!"

"Beetle!" spat the bug. "How dare you…"

"What's going on?" asked Sango, standing above InuYasha and Sueko. Miroku, Yoshiko, and Shippo were standing next to Sango all with a look of curiosity.

"You rude little girl!" cried the bug, ignoring the new people. "Don't tell me you don't remember me!"

"Well…" said Sueko, trying to remember a time where she met a talking bug but failing at it.

"Myoga! Don't confuse the poor girl!" cried Yoshiko, smiling and sitting down next to Sueko as everyone else sat down too.

"Myoga?" repeated Sueko. The name did sound familiar…

"Yes! Myoga the flea!" said the bug triumphantly. "Now do you remember me!"

"Uh… not exactly," said Sueko, smiling sheepishly.

"What do you expect? You weren't around long enough and never came back enough for her to remember you!" said Yoshiko.

"Humph!" said Myoga the flea, crossing his many arms and sitting down on InuYasha's hand in a huff.

"What do you want, Myoga?" repeated InuYasha moodily. "I don't have all day."

"You do too," said Yoshiko. "It's not like we're doing anything important."

"Shut up…" muttered InuYasha.

"Actually," said the flea importantly, standing back up and clearing his throat, "I came back after researching about the 'Last One' and figured you'd like to know…"

"Oh, really?" said Yoshiko, putting her head closer to him. "Wow, that's so _fascinating_! So what did you learn that I know absolutely nothing about?"

"I'm not done yet!" cried Myoga.

"Then hurry up!" cried Yoshiko. "God, it's not that hard. Just spit out what you want to say and move on!"

"Well…" said Myoga, hesitating for a moment. "The thing is…"

"Don't tell me you went away for six months and learned _nothing_!" said Yoshiko, faking amazement. "That's, like, half a year, or a hundred and eighty days, or… well, I'm too lazy to do more math at the moment…"

"I told you, I'm not done yet!" cried Myoga.

"Then hurry up all ready. I'll be eighty by the time you finish at this rate," said Yoshiko.

"Well, I will admit that there isn't a whole lot of information out there about the 'Last One' or any of the four shrines…" started Myoga.

"So this is your way of saying you didn't learn anything?" asked Yoshiko.

"Did I say I was done yet!" asked Myoga.

"No… It's just so fun teasing a flea!" cried Yoshiko.

"You're amused way too easily," said Sango.

"For your information," said Myoga angrily, "I did hear a rumor that the Spirit Shrine was located up North."

"Oh my god!" said Yoshiko. "That's so exciting. Too bad we don't know _where_ north!"

"Hey! No one knows about the 'Last One' so how am I supposed to figure out anything about it!" cried Myoga.

"Hey, flea thing?" said Sueko. "Do you mind not calling me the Last One? It's kinda annoying…"

"Well, you _forgot_ about me!" said Myoga hurtfully.

"I'm sorry my life is so freakin' complicated I don't remember about talking bugs I met six months ago! I'll try harder next time!" cried Sueko.

"We really aren't getting anything done yelling at each other," said Miroku.

"Good point," said Sango.

"This is kinda boring…" said Shippo. "Are we going to actually do something or what?"

Suddenly Yoshiko stood up, looking quite thoughtful. For a few minutes she didn't do anything, just stood there as everyone else looked up at her. Finally she looked down at everyone and said, "What?'

"What are you doing?" asked Sueko.

"You know what?" said Yoshiko to no one in particular, "I haven't checked on my sword yet… It's probably done by now… I should go get it…" After another pause of no one doing anything she said, "You're all coming with, right?"

"Why should we? You were so mean to Myoga… I think it would be no fun being with a mean person like _you_," said Sueko.

"Shut up," said Yoshiko. "Besides, I thought InuYasha wanted to meet him! How does he do that if he never comes with?"

"Well, you _have_ been mean to InuYasha and Sueko all week…" said Miroku thoughtfully.

"So you've all turned against me, is that it?" asked Yoshiko, crossing her arms.

"Oh, stop complaining, you big baby!" said Sueko, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "We'll go with you so we can protect you from you big, scary grandfather!"

"Shut up…"

* * *

Walking through the forest on the way to Takeno's was pretty boring, especially since Myoga wouldn't shut up the whole entire time. And Myoga talking the whole entire time didn't leave much room for someone else to talk so Sueko was just so very bored… But then suddenly it wasn't so boring when she heard someone besides Myoga saying something.

It was like this far away voice calling out to her but it was so far away she couldn't understand what they were saying. And Sueko looked behind her but no one was there…

"What are you doing?" Yoshiko asked.

"Did someone say something?" Sueko asked.

"Yeah. Myoga!" said Yoshiko.

"No, besides him…" said Sueko, looking around her again.

"I bet you haven't heard a word I've said this whole time!" said Myoga moodily.

"I have!" said Yoshiko, raising her hand.

"Are you sure no one else said something?" asked Sueko, looking around some more.

Yoshiko sighed and put her hands on Sueko's shoulders so she'd stop moving. "What are you doing!"

It was then that, instead of answering Yoshiko's question, Sueko got this strange idea.

"Hey, Yoshiko, can you like move your arms so I can get my sword?" asked Sueko.

"What?" blinked Yoshiko.

"Just do it!" said Sueko.

Still confused, Yoshiko put her hands to her sides with her eyebrows raised. But her eyes went wide as Sueko yanked her sword from its sheath and it suddenly glowed blue.

"I knew it…" muttered Sueko, looking at it like it normally glowed blue.

"What, you _knew_ your sword was glowing!" asked InuYasha.

"No, I knew the sky was purple!" said Sueko, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, why in the hell is it glowing?"

"Why don't you ask it?" cried Yoshiko. "I mean, it _was_ talking to you, wasn't it?"

"Uh… Yeah…" said Sueko, looking at her sword again.

"Well, then concentrate, you idiot!" cried Yoshiko.

"How!" cried Sueko back. "I can't concentrate if you're yelling at me!"

"Fine then…" muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms. "Maybe you should learn how to concentrate _with_ the noise…"

But Sueko wasn't listening. She had her eyes closed and attempted to figure out what her sword wanted. At first nothing happened and Sueko thought she just wouldn't be able to do it… but suddenly she just knew what the sword wanted. Almost like she had known all along… it was really weird.

"Apparently we're supposed to go south… Where's south?" said Sueko.

Yoshiko blinked for a few seconds, then she laughed. "Wow, you actually did it!"

"Ha-ha, so amazing," said Sueko. "Now where's south!"

"To the left," said Miroku.

Sueko blinked. "And you just knew that?"

Miroku shrugged. "Yeah…"

Sueko shook her head. "I'm not going to ask…"

"So do you know _what_ it is we're looking for?" asked Yoshiko sweetly as if she already knew the answer.

"It didn't tell me that much," said Sueko.

"Fine! Be that way!" said Yoshiko.

"I don't see you trying to figure out what the hell your sword wants!" cried Sueko.

"That'd be because at the moment I don't have one! So that'd be pretty difficult…" said Yoshiko.

"Yoshiko! Sueko! Are you just going to stand there all day or _what_!" complained InuYasha fifty feet away to the left.

"Now we've been left behind, and it's all your fault!" said Sueko.

"Sure… think what you want," said Yoshiko, walking over to the others.

"Fine… leave me… You could all be going the wrong way for all you know! But maybe I'll be mean and won't tell you!" said Sueko.

"Are you coming or not!" cried InuYasha.

"Fine…" muttered Sueko, running to catch up.

* * *

**REPLY TO REVIEWS**  
Review of reviews! Wahoo! Aren't you so excited to see your name on MY fan fic? Well, if you replied it'd be there… but seeing how a short amount of time went by it's okay if you didn't reply. I won't send Fluffy-sama over to your house to kill you or anything. _Yet…_

Oh yeah, I forgot: May 2nd is Ravyn's B-day. Let's sing her happy birthday! 1, 2, 3… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Okay, I'm done now. Let's all hope she gets Fluffy-sama for her birthday. Let's ignore the fact that she already has a good enough boyfriend as it is and I'm the one who needs one seeing how I'm horribly, horribly single… not that I care. All the guys I know are really weird. The only guys I'd want to date are fictional characters… it's not my fault the people on InuYasha and Wolf's Rain are incredibly hot! Okay, Toboe's just cute… _blush_

ANYWAYS, I'm moving on!

**icygirl2**: Yeah, the fan fic has been a bit slow lately, but the characters were having some "romantic difficulties." _Ducks the glares from Yoshiko, Sesshomaru, InuYasha and Sueko_ Well, they're all solved now, so now we'll get to do some action. After we meet a new character… and I think something else happens before the big evil bad guy shows up that I can't remember… oh yeah, I remember! You meet Kikyo's clone! Okay, she's not her clone, but she like looks like her… except her hair is brown… but she acts nothing like Kikyo… even though she has emotional issues… why in God's name am I spoiling the fan fic for? Moving on before I'll have to shoot myself outta guiltiness…

**BlackTearsOfDarkness**: Wow… a lot of replies! "Yoshiko's just a softy deep deep down, isn't she?" Yep, she is! Ravyn likes writing characters like her… But I have a tendency to write my main character to be almost exactly like me so I guess that's not too bad… "/ Poor Sueko. Sueko and Inuyasha need to hurry up and get together! Graahh! Anticipation, tension, blah bleh bluh! And Keitaro has an awesome bedroom." They just got together! So that solves that problem… And I like Keitaro's bedroom too. I based it off Ravyn's parent's office… and the fact that that's how I'd imagine a computer geek's room to be. Whatever, it all works out! "Pokemon! I know all the words to the Pokemon theme song. I don't even like Pokemon. But I wanted to annoy my friends so I learned it and sang it to them all day once. ." Wow… well, we all have our hobbies! Lol, just kidding! I was obsessed with it in like 4th grade but that's it… Ravyn actually has the songs to that AND Yu-Gi-Oh! AND Digimon memorized… And please don't bring up Digimon in front of her. She won't shut up… And I have all this Japanese music that I'm trying to memorize the English translated lyrics so I can sing the song in English without looking at the damn piece of paper so whatever. "This chapter made me sad ( She needs to come back! He didn't mean it! SUEKKO, COME BACK! ARRGH!AAHH! COME BACK!" I think I'm replying to these backwards… AH WELL! And she did come back because Yoshiko made her, so there you go, that problem solved! "Oh! I like Keitaro! But Inuyasha...But Keitaro...Inuyasha...Keitaro...eek! I can't decide which one I like better. Hmm...Eenie meenie miney mo..." That made me feel so guilty. I never intended to make this Keitaro-Sueko-InuYasha love triangle (Keitaro's just so freakin' cool! How could I be so cruel? _Bows head, ashamed_) but then again I never intend to do half the things I ended up doing in life… Whatever. It's not like much of it I have to regret, they're just kinda embarrassing memories to think up… Let's just say that all three of them will find a happy ending, whether they're with the girl/guy they want in that triangle or not… It's totally obvious who wins this feud but I don't want to just say it. That's just mean! But this story ends happy! We don't like depressing stories so… well, you get the point. If you don't than TOO BAD! "Did I ever tell you I was Miroku for Halloween? Because I was. It was fun. I got to carry around a big stick for my staff. And I didn't have to wear shoes either!" Hmm… aren't you a girl? I just assumed that you are because of the remus/kiora fan fic and now I'm wondering if you are still one or not… Whatever, this is what I get for "figuring" things! I do it all the time! Which is why I suck at talking! Yet I talk all the time! So my life is just full of problems! DAMN IT! Okay, replying to someone else's reply before I scare people (though I already managed that, huh?)!

**elemental hanyou**: "Nice I love it...man people are in bad moods in this chapter. I have some things to tell them...Attitude problems" Yep! All attitude problems! And you haven't seen the worst of it so watch out! I think Ravyn likes writing like this so go figure…

Okay, that's all for now. I'm gonna finish editing the next post and I'll try to upload that in the next coupla days so STAY TUNED! Sayonara! _waves_


	26. Yukie, the Other Shrine Protector

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**Oh my freakin' God… ANOTHER UPDATE! WAHOO! CELEBRATE! I-W-A-U!(6)

Alright, I'm done now. Actually, I don't have too much time to talk because I have to get off in like three minutes… not that I'm posting this today, but I'll do it right after school and then we'll all be happy! Except the people from Full Metal Alchemist because… **OMG, SPOILER!** They just _had_ to kill off Hugh. WHY, PEOPLE, WHY? He's so freakin' awesome! And Ed's gets depressed easily so when he finds out he'll just have a whole "I'm gonna be depressed!" episode! Okay, not really, but I don't care! And he had this cute adorable little girl! Now she has no daddy! HOW COULD YOU, YOU STUPID WRITERS FOR FMA? **OKAY, SPOILER DONE! **But whatever, gotta run, here's more!

**DISCLAIMER  
**If it's on the TV show we don't own it, but if it WASN'T we own it. Yukie my character, can't have her. Anyways, sayonara! And enjoy fan fic!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Yukie, the Other Shrine Protector**

"Are you sure your sword said to go south?" asked Yoshiko thirty minutes later.

"It didn't tell me how far!" cried Sueko.

"Well, maybe you should ask it then!" said Yoshiko.

"Oh, sure. Hey sword, how far?" asked Sueko, laughing as she held up her sword. But it was kind of weird when a second later she knew….

"Apparently we're almost there…" said Sueko tonelessly, staring at the blue sword with eyes wide.

Yoshiko laughed. "Told you if you just asked the thing…"

"Shut up!"

Then suddenly the group heard footsteps that weren't their own a few feet away, but they didn't see anything through all the trees. But before they could shrug and ignore it they actually saw someone walk in front of them.

She was a very tall woman with long, straight black hair and a narrow face. She was dressed simply in an outfit similar to Sango's except with more blue. She looked pretty ordinary except for the fact that the sword in her hands looked exactly like Sueko's and was glowing blue.

"Aha!" the woman said happily. "So you're what the sword was calling for."

Sueko blinked. "What?"

"What the hell is going on?" cried InuYasha. "Why do you have the same exact swords?"

"So are _you_ the mysterious 'Last One'?" the woman asked, walking right up to Sueko.

"Um…" said Sueko, not sure of how she should answer it.

"Oh, it's okay!" said the woman cheerfully. "I'm not some evil demon who's plotting your death or anything!"

"How do we know for sure?" asked InuYasha. He was about to pull out the Tetsusaiga but Yoshiko stopped him.

"God, you can't just attack random people all the time for no reason!" cried Yoshiko.

"I do have a reason!" said InuYasha.

"So what's your name?" asked the woman kindly to Sueko. "I bet it's a really cool name…"

"Uh…" said Sueko, weirded out by the strange woman. "Sueko?"

"So it _is_ a cool name!" said the woman. "It means the 'Last One,' doesn't it?"

"Uh huh…"

"Mine's Yukie. It's so plain…" said the woman, sighing dramatically. "It means 'painting of snow' or 'very beautiful'…"

"Well, you _are_ beautiful," said Miroku suddenly. Before Sango could stop him, Miroku had gone up to Yukie and put his hands in hers.

Yukie laughed and pretended to blush. "Wow, aren't you friendly… But your girlfriend looks pretty upset so maybe you should go over to her instead."

"Who are you?" asked Yoshiko, her eyes going wide as Sango pulled Miroku away from Yukie.

"Yukie!" said Yukie proudly. "And the protector to the Spirit Shrine… which I normally don't go around saying but I don't sense an evil presence around so that's okay…"

"You can sense an evil presence?" said Sueko.

"Uh huh… What, you don't know how?" asked Yukie sweetly.

"Uh…" said Sueko guiltily.

"Oh, that's okay! It's not that hard to figure out. Practice makes perfect."

"Now you sound like me…" muttered Yoshiko.

Yukie turned to Yoshiko and narrowed her eyes at her, though not in the mean way… Just like she was trying to think of something.

"You seem very troubled…" said Yukie seriously.

"Maybe you're troubling me…" muttered Yoshiko darkly.

"Oh, don't worry about it too much!" said Yukie, being cheerful again. "You'll get over your troubles eventually. Not that I know what they are… I'm not _that_ physic…"

"So you're physic too?" cried Sueko.

"Uh huh," said Yukie. "Why? You aren't?"

"I feel like I'm missing something here…" said Sueko.

"What _can_ you do, exactly?" Yukie asked.

"Um… sense shrine stones… and sometimes the sword talks to me?" said Sueko.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well, aren't you behind?" said Yukie, grinning and putting her sword away (which had stopped glowing blue, along with Sueko's).

"She never concentrates hard enough," said Yoshiko.

"How can she when you never shut up?" cried InuYasha.

"You're only defending her because you're _in love_ with her!" said Yoshiko, pointing a finger at InuYasha's face and grinning mischievously.

Noticing Sueko and InuYasha's faces going red, Yukie blinked a few times before going, "Wow…"

"What?" asked Yoshiko.

"Um… nothing…" said Yukie seriously. Then she smiled again and said, "So, what are you all doing in the middle of no where?"

"Listening to what the sword says," said Sueko.

"Well, before that, then," said Yukie, waving a hand.

"Don't change the subject!" cried Yoshiko. "What did you mean by 'wow'!"

"If it pertained to you I would have said something, now wouldn't I?" said Yukie, almost as if she was scolding Yoshiko.

"Actually, we were going to get Yoshiko's sword back because her old one broke…" said Sueko.

"Shut up!" cried Yoshiko. "It was the snake's fault!"

"Keep saying that to yourself," said InuYasha.

"Oh, shut up Mr. Cranky!"

"You _are_ cranky, aren't you?" said Yukie to InuYasha. "Wow, you're more troubled than Yoshiko! Man, do you have some serious problems!"

"Uh…" said InuYasha.

"Maybe you could get your girlfriend to help you out. But first," said Yukie, turning back to Sueko, who still had her sword out, "I've got to teach you a lesson!"

"W—what sort of lesson?" stuttered Sueko.

"You're so behind on your spiritual powers it's not even funny. Actually, it kind of is. But you're the 'Last One'! Of all people _you_ can't be behind!"

"How do you know so much about the 'Last One'?" asked Myoga, finally speaking out.

"All of the Spirit Shrine protectors know about the 'Last One'!" said Yukie like this was obvious.

"But I'm not a Spirit Shrine protector! What do you expect out of me?" cried Yoshiko.

"How come _I'm_ the Spirit Shrine protector but know nothing about me?" asked Sueko in annoyance, attempting to cross her arms with the sword still in her hand.

"Don't worry about it too much," said Yukie, shrugging. "They always said the 'Last One' was _supposed_ to be naïve…"

"Who's 'they'?" asked InuYasha grumpily as though he still didn't trust her.

"The Shrine Protectors before me. Or maybe I should say _us_…" said Yukie, looking thoughtful.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Well," said Yukie, becoming serious again as she started to explain, "all the Shrine Protectors before me have left information about each of the elemental shrines, or of the Spirit Shrine, or of the powers that the protector has… anything that they'd feel is necessary for the next generation of Shrine Protectors to have. And that includes the legend of the 'Last One'—or how the elemental stones were created and how everyone in the Kokoro line would possess the powers to make sure the elemental shrines were never endangered—especially every one hundred years when the stones of each shrine are awoken. And now all the stones have awoken… So me, being the person this generation to protect it, has higher power then the others because I need to be more powerful if the stones are awoken and full of power."

Yukie was about to explain more but Sueko interrupted her.

"Did you say… Kokoro line? As in, members of the Kokoro family?" Sueko asked a bit timidly.(1)

"Erm… yup! I did! Why?" asked Yukie, merry once more.

"Well… that was kind of my mom's surname. Like, before she got married and all that junk…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"Ah. Well, that's where your powers are from!" said Yukie, acting like she was proud of Sueko making that point. "But I'm not exactly done yet with my little story!"

"There's _more_!" cried Sueko.

"Yeah…" said Yukie. "I won't even be able to tell you half of it. According to the legend the 'Last One' is supposed to mostly discover her powers herself, otherwise she'll never truly reach her full potential."

"I bet that's just a fancy way of saying that I have to do everything the hard way…" muttered Sueko.

"Hmm… Never thought of it that way before…" muttered Yukie.

"How do you know all of this stuff, anyways?" asked Sueko. "What, did you meet one of the Spirit Shrine Protector people or something and have a nice chat with them over tea?"

"How could I do that if they're all dead?" asked Yukie, blinking.

"Well, how do you know all this stuff then? About the legend thingy and your powers… And me?" asked Sueko.

"Oh, that's easy. All the information is in the Spirit Shrine!" said Yukie.

There was a pause as everyone except Yukie gasped in amazement. Yukie looked at all of them with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

Then Miroku piped up and said the one thing everyone was thinking: "Y—you know where the Spirit Shrine is?"

"Yep!" said Yukie, clearly enjoying herself. "But I can't tell you where it is, sorry!"

"I hate you…" muttered Yoshiko, glaring at Yukie.

"Why not?" asked Sango.

"Part of the 'Last One's' journey is to find the Spiritual Shrine herself!"

"Why do _I_ have to go on some difficult journey for? I didn't ask for this! Why should I be forced to do all of this if I don't want to!" cried Sueko.

"Hey, we have to _follow_ you around during all of this!" cried InuYasha.

"Well, technically, you don't _have_ to, you just choose to," said Yoshiko.

"Look who's talking," muttered InuYasha.

"I'm not the one with a crush on the 'Last One'!"

"Why you little—"

"_Anyways_!" said Yukie, bringing back all the attention to her. "I _can_ give you a hint about the location of the Spirit Shrine!"

"Hurry up with it, then!" said Yoshiko eagerly.

"All right," said Yukie, pausing dramatically. "It's… North."

Yoshiko blinked a few times. "I beg your pardon?"

"Its north. Like, not south, east, or west. North. Up. Like, where it's cold and—"

"That's your hint!" cried Yoshiko in frustration. "We already know it's _up north_! That's not helpful at all!"

"Yell at my ancestors, not me!" cried Yukie, holding up her hands innocently.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the 'Last One'?" Myoga asked. "The swords _had_ to have glowed for a reason…"

Yukie smiled triumphantly. "That'd be because I was looking for the 'Last One.' Apparently the Shrine Protector around during the year the 'Last One' shows up is supposed to, like, guide her and all that good junk. And when I was near enough my sword glowed… and I suppose hers glowed too because we're supposed to have each other…"

"Sueko! It's _Su-e-ko_!" muttered Sueko.

"That's a thought," said Miroku suddenly to what Yukie had said. "How come you and Sueko have the same exact sword?"

"Hmm…" said Yukie thoughtfully. She stood there looking deep in thought for a whole minute before finally saying, "Well, is it true that you _are_ from a different time-frame, Sueko?"

"Huh?" said Sueko, taken aback after being called by her name instead of by the "Last One." "I guess so… why?"

"The legend _did_ say she'd be from the future…" said Yukie, more to herself than anyone else. "And she got the sword as a gift from a relative…"

"I don't think you could call it a gift," muttered Sueko. "More like I asked my father for a weapon to protect myself from demons. Which, now that I think about it, must have sounded so weird…"

"Stop talking to yourself," muttered Yoshiko.

"Well, that'd be why," said Yukie, ignoring Yoshiko. "Because of the whole time thing we have the same sword. But your sword has to be so much older… the future ancestors must have taken good care of it though…" she added, looking at Sueko's sword critically (Sueko still hadn't put it away it, but had kept it at her side). "Can I look at it?" Yukie asked.

Sueko nodded and handed her the sword, though she couldn't figure out _why_ Yukie would want to look at if it they had the same exact sword. Yukie turned the blade on both sides, checked it for sharpness, tossed it lightly a few times, and looked like those really smart old people in movies who are wise and are sword makers. Finally Yukie gave the sword back to Sueko and said simply, "It seems like your elders have put quite a barrier on the thing."

"Huh?" said Sueko. Since when did her sword have a barrier?

"I can feel more power from that sword by just holding it… My sword is no near that powerful…" muttered Yukie seriously. "One of my future relatives must have been smart enough to prepare it for you. It _was_ predicted you'd need to be more prepared then any other Shrine Protector…"

"If you are around why would I need to be more powerful?" asked Sueko.

"I'm getting older," said Yukie simply. "With each year I grow older, and with each year my power slowly diminishes. Eventually my power will be useless and I'll have to bare children so _they'll_ have the powers so in the next hundred years they'll be able to protect the newly-awakened stones."

"You don't look old…" said Miroku, making Sango glare at him.

Yukie laughed. "I'm thirty-five!"

"You look no older than twenty!" said Miroku.

"Shut up before Sango kills you," muttered InuYasha.

"What…" said Sueko. "Didn't you say before my sword had a barrier?"

"Yup!" said Yukie happily. "Why? You didn't know that either?"

"Hey, I just found out about this world six months ago, let alone the fact I had this whole destiny laid out in front of me!" cried Sueko. "But seriously, how come it has a barrier but I don't _know_?"

"Because you don't know how to use the powers, let alone how to _read_ power," said Yukie.

"But you _did_ use the swords powers a few times," said Yoshiko suddenly. "Remember the new moon with the ogre? And that spider demon that you killed without knowing how?"

"Yeah…" said Sueko, remembering how she had made a sort of defense shield out of a blue bubble from her sword… and the Wind Scar to defeat the ogre… But she could never figure out how she did that…

Yukie suddenly looked very interested. Like hearing this news was the most exciting thing ever.

"So you figured out how to tap into the elemental powers?" Yukie asked breathlessly.

"Uh… not exactly…" muttered Sueko. "I just… sort of did it…"

Yukie laughed. "You didn't just _do it_! Come on, remember that day! What was happening inside you before it happened?"

"Uh…" It was so long ago it was hard to remember… But she _had_ been really worried about InuYasha. He had been lying on the ground after being attack by the ogre and almost looked dead… and then Sueko thought _she_ was going to die… maybe the only reason she was able to do the Wind Scar and make a defense thingy was because she was so desperate and worried.

When Sueko said this Yukie nodded in an understanding way. "And someday you'll learn how to tap into the swords power without being in a stressful situation," she said. Then, with a small sigh, she added, "Now it seems as though you were all going somewhere before the sword 'called' so how about you go do that and then we can meet again!"

"Huh?" said Sueko.

Though it seemed as though Yoshiko understood what Yukie meant. "How would you know about _that_?"

"I'm physic!" said Yukie with a grin. "Well, sorta… I could just tell you were about to meet someone you didn't really want to see but have to so how about you just get the whole dreaded experience over with and then we can start up this nice little chat again! What do you say?"

"And how are we supposed to find you again?" asked InuYasha tiredly.

"The swords, silly!" said Yukie. "God, have you been paying any attention? Do you think I just enjoy the sound of my voice or something? I mean, it's not like I'm just babbling nonsense. This is all very important stuff, and not to mention—"

"How are we supposed to leave if you won't shut up?" muttered Yoshiko.

"Well, that wasn't very nice!" said Sueko, frowning.

"I DON'T WANT TO VISIT TAKENO!" cried Yoshiko.

"So I was right…" muttered Yukie. "Well, buh-bye! See you in a few!"

With a wave she turned around, flipping her long black hair around, and walked into the trees. Either the trees were so close together they blocked her view or perhaps Yukie had just suddenly vanished because a second later Sueko couldn't see her at all.

"Well!" said Sango after a moment's silence. "That certainly goes at number two on my 'weirdest moments' list!"

"What's number one?" asked Miroku curiously.

"Meeting you," muttered Sango.

"So where's Takeno's place again?" said Sueko. "After going the direction my sword told me to go I lost my sense of direction…"

"You seem to do that often," muttered Yoshiko, walking ahead of everyone towards the right direction. With a shrug everyone else followed.

* * *

As they stepped out of the trees for the second time within a week onto the beach Yoshiko once again considered turning around and leaving. But she wasn't about to waste everybody's time coming here just to leave. Plus she _did_ need a sword. It was the only way she knew of fighting. Sure, if she wanted to, she could fight with her claws but that really was a last resort. Last time she had used them a little boy had gone home with a huge gash on his cheek and he was pretty kind boy. Even to her at times. Of course, he wasn't that kind after that… At least he wasn't mean.

Just as they were reaching the hut, Takeno's head popped out of the window and looked at the strange group.

"Just thinking about looking for you!" he cried as everybody paused to look at him. "Ho! You have friends with you!"

"What, Sueko isn't a friend?" joked Yoshiko, being in a very strange mood after their encounter with Yukie.

"No, of course not!" said Takeno in astonishment, causing Sueko to cross her arms. "She's your sister. Did we not go over this last time?"

Yoshiko glanced at Sueko, rolling her eyes. The girl shrugged and together they turned away, giggling silently. Though their relationship was still a little tense because of what Yoshiko had said last time they came, it was much better after InuYasha and Sueko had gotten "back together." Not that they were ever together to begin with. But they had a very cute romantic moment in the rain (lucky girl) and they weren't angry at each other anymore. Well, InuYasha had never been angry at Sueko… But he worked in strange ways so turned his loneliness and frustration into anger. Which he soon turned on Sueko slightly when he found out Yoshiko wouldn't take that crap.

"So! Tora, you going to introduce your companions or not?" asked Takeno, leaning on the sill of his window impatiently.(2)

A blush crept over Yoshiko's cheeks at the reminder of her childhood nickname. It was one only shared within the family… so her father, Godric and Takeno. And a few years before she died they told Godric's mother about it. She never used it though. She thought Yoshiko was a far prettier name and Tora should be saved for somebody special, like a lover—a strange lady to be sure. But Yoshiko had almost completely forgotten about it and now only really saw it as a kid name. So she turned around angrily, hands on her hips and glaring at the old man.

"What the hell are you doing?" cried Yoshiko. "That's personal! You don't just use that name at your leisure!"

"Something the matter?" asked Takeno scratching his head. Then he sighed and stopped feigning innocence. "What, you don't trust them enough yet?"

"That's not the point!" snapped Yoshiko.

"Oh, no?" said Takeno thoughtfully, cocking his head to the side. "Well, you should have at least told your sister!"

"Will you stop it with the sister thing?" shouted Yoshiko, standing next to Sueko. "Do you see a resemblance? 'Cause I sure as hell don't!"

"That's not true!" cried Takeno. "You both have green eyes; something very uncommon in Japan. The only people I know to have green eyes are your mother and a few of the Spirit Shrine protectors."

"Whatever…" muttered Yoshiko. "Anyways, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara and Mutt," she said quickly, tapping each on the head as she introduced them.

"Who you calling 'mutt'?" cried InuYasha, swatting her hand aside.

"Mutt has a sword. Good. Grab it," said Takeno, as he disappeared into the hut and came rushing out of the front holding another newer sword in his hand.

In response InuYasha and Yoshiko turned to the old man blinking. This time it was Sango and Sueko's turn to giggle as Shippo rolled his eyes and walked away with Kirara. Miroku seemed unsure of what to do and decided to just sit down next to a tree to watch. Takeno tapped his foot impatiently as the half-demons just stared at him. Finally he rolled his eyes.

"What, did I stutter?" he said impatiently. "Use his sword!"

"Why my sword?" cried InuYasha, pulling the Tetsusaiga out of his belt so he could hold it away from Yoshiko.

"Because it would be rude to use the 'Last One' sword," explained Takeno. "And Sango's is inefficient."

"So why am I using somebody else's sword?" asked Yoshiko, raising her eyebrows.

"I want to test out my new sword and I want to make sure you won't abuse it!" said Takeno. "To do this I'll use the sword that I might give to you and you'll have to defend yourself with another sword."

"Well, she isn't using mine!" said InuYasha, turning away.

In exasperation Takeno threw his hands into the air and then turned to Sueko. She blinked at him in confusion until he walked over and whispered something in her ear. When he pulled away she glared at him and put her hands on her hips. Almost immediately Yoshiko seemed to catch onto what Takeno wanted her to do. How he knew Sueko could do it she really didn't feel like asking. She grinned sweetly and turned toward Sueko completely.

"Oh, come on! You know you would enjoy it," said Yoshiko mischievously. "He's a jerk every once and a while so deserves it every so often…"

"That's sick and twisted logic," muttered Sueko.

"But… don't you want to get out of here quickly so you can find out what Yukie has to say?" whined Yoshiko.

"No, that would be you," said Takeno, rolling his eyes. "You can only know so much about the Spirit Shrine."

"Shut up! I'll learn as much as I want to!" snapped Yoshiko.

"I'm telling you it isn't healthy…" muttered Takeno. "Look, just tell Mutt to sit and get it over with."

"What?" cried InuYasha in a strangled sort of way. "No, please, don't!"

"Then just let Yoshiko borrow your damn sword already," sighed Sueko. "That way we can get out of here."

"But…" protested InuYasha.

But during his failed protesting Yoshiko had snuck around him and grabbed the sword from him. Grinning sweetly she held just out of reach as the half dog demon turned around to grab it. Sighing, he crossed his arms and walked over to stand next to Sueko while muttering things like 'traitor' and 'thief.' Finally the old man walked to the center of the beach, holding his sword in ready position. Already Yoshiko could tell it was going to be a superior sword and couldn't wait to use it. In the meantime she was going to have fun using the Tetsusaiga. Last time she used it had been on the half-moon and it couldn't transform.

Quickly Yoshiko drew her temporary sword and tossed the sheath at InuYasha, hitting him right in the head. He might have yelled at her but she was walking next to the ocean now, the waves drowning out most of the sound next to the hut. She had yet to transform the sword and really didn't feel like doing it if she didn't have to. She might break her new sword if the Tetsusaiga grew. That was all she needed, for her sword to snap before she even got to use it.

As soon as she got into a ready position Takeno attacked, but in such an obvious way Yoshiko just sidestepped the attack. His other attacks were just as wild and she soon grew bored. After a while he got a little smarter and she actually held up her temporary sword to block some of the attacks. Despite this slow start she knew he would get far more offensive so she didn't let her guard down for a minute. In fact, not two minutes into their scrimmage she actually had to start thinking. Dodging, blocking and attacking now had little pause between them as she tried desperately to stave off his attacks.

She knew she almost had him beat. For all his energy he was still old and tired easily. But Takeno wasn't one to just give up. He had some sort of trick up his sleeve. And having trained with him a couple of times and seeing her father train with him she could guess at this trick. In fact, just as she knocked the sword out of the old man's hand she heard a rustle behind her. Throwing Takeno an annoyed look, she turned on her heels quickly to face a large sea serpent. Before it could hardly rear up its head in an attack Yoshiko brought the Tetsusaiga over her head, causing it to transform and then bringing it crashing over her head in a powerful gust of wind. The sea serpent disappeared under the attack and when the ocean calmed there was no sign of the creature.

"I've had enough of your demons!" cried Yoshiko, turning to look at her grandfather. As she glared at him Sueko and InuYasha rushed down the beach to them.

"What demons? I don't know what you're talking about!" said Takeno innocently.

In annoyance Yoshiko brought the flat part of the sword down on the old man's head.

"Abuse!" he cried out.

"On you or the sword?" muttered Yoshiko with a smile. Rolling his eyes, InuYasha grabbed his sword away from her and sheathed it.

"Well, mostly on me…" murmured Takeno, crossing his arms as a bump grew on his head. Yoshiko giggled. "But oh well. Take your sword and get out of here."

"Thank you, Grandfather," giggled Yoshiko, barely having to stoop to kiss the old man on the cheek. Then she turned and picked up her own sword.

"That's something new; quite a change in that girl. Wonder, could it be Sueko, Mutt, or maybe somebody else… Hmm, if so, who else? Or maybe I'm just imagining things. Girl has to show affection for her old man sooner or later. But maybe—" muttered Takeno to himself. But this was soon interrupted by Yoshiko hitting him on the head repeatedly by the now sheathed sword. His eyes narrowed. "What now?"

"Name," said Yoshiko simply.

"You're name's Yoshiko, mine's Takeno and that guy with the dog-ears is called Mutt!" cried Takeno as Yoshiko continued to hit him. "What's your point?"

"Does the sword have a name?" sighed Yoshiko.

"Of course it does! But who's to say I've thought of it yet?" asked the old man. "Besides, you never bothered to figure out the name of your last one."

"Which was probably why it was a piece of crap and I never got too attached to it," yawned Yoshiko. "So does this one have one or not?"

"Yeah sure. Akako. Means red," said Takeno huffily. "Happy now?"(3)

"Very much so…" said Yoshiko, holding her sword up to catch the sun. "So it's a girl… Interesting."

"A sword has a sex?" said InuYasha in disbelief.

"Well, Akako is a girl name at least," shrugged Yoshiko. "The Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga were given guy names because your father happened to be a guy. They were mainly created to protect your mother."

"Excuse me—" started InuYasha but Yoshiko continued.

"I don't know what Sesshomaru is talking about! Your father died so very romantically. Fighting against all odds to save the life of the woman he loved and his almost newly born son," said Yoshiko dreamily. "Too bad I couldn't meet a guy like that. Raoul would be unable, Koga would probably decide it would be easier to like some other girl and…"(4)

"Sesshomaru wouldn't waste his time," muttered InuYasha.

Unfortunately Yoshiko still heard him. She turned, glaring at him, but didn't have to waste her time. Sueko cried out "Sit!" allowing the half tiger demon to stomp off. Soon the girl followed after with Sango, Miroku and Shippo riding on Kirara. Finally InuYasha yelled after them and ran to catch up, leaving a muttering Takeno behind. As they were reaching the line of trees Sueko turned to Yoshiko sweetly.

"So, what's up with 'Tora?'" she asked, causing Yoshiko to blush.

"It's just a stupid nickname my dad had for me," said Yoshiko. "It's nothing okay. Just forget it."

"Oh…" said Sueko as Yoshiko walked past her.

"I think it's a bit more than just a nickname," muttered InuYasha.

"Well, now that her old sword broke," said Sango, "it's probably the only thing she's got left of her father: her memories. He was probably one of the only people that called her that."

"What, her village didn't call her that?" joked InuYasha.

"No, they called her vile things I would much rather not hear," said Sango, shuddering.

"Guess she wasn't just making it up," said InuYasha.

"No, her village isn't the most pleasant of places," said Sango. "And we never even went there. We just ran into an… 'old friend.'"

"She doesn't realize how lucky she is, though," said Miroku.

"She'll figure it out eventually," shrugged InuYasha. "I know I did."

With a smile he glanced over at Sueko who felt his eyes on her and felt herself blush. Luckily Yoshiko came stomping back, hands on her hips seeming very impatient to get going. But just as she was opening her mouth to yell at them, she stopped. Closing her mouth slowly she scratched her head.

"Uh… Sueko…" she said. "Which way does your sword tell you to go?" Yoshiko asked sheepishly.

The response was a chorus of laughter that she soon joined in to.

* * *

"So now we have to go find your crazy ancestor again?" complained InuYasha the day after visiting Takeno's.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Don't you have another word in your vocabulary besides _huh_!" cried Yoshiko.

"HUH!" said Sueko, putting her face close to Yoshiko's. "But seriously," she said, turning to InuYasha, "what are you talking about?"

"Well, you _are_ related to Yukie, right?" said InuYasha. "And this is the past for you so that'd make her your distant relative… plus she's pretty insane…"

"And you're not?" muttered Yoshiko.

"Would you like to rephrase that?" asked Sango with a grin.

"I'm not the one in love with a perverted monk!" cried Yoshiko.

"You know what? All of you are insane!" cried Shippo from Miroku's shoulder.

"Oh, and you're not?" asked Sueko. "I'm not the one with a fuzzy tail sticking out of my butt!"

"Okay, everyone's insane! Move on!" cried Miroku, waving his hands.

"You know, why do you still cover your right hand if you no longer have the Wind Tunnel?" asked Sango, holding up Miroku's right hand.

"Erm…" muttered Miroku. "It felt weird not wearing it…"

Shippo laughed. "Remember the first month after defeating Naraku, it felt so weird not having the Wind Tunnel that you actually drew one on yourself so you could _pretend_ you had one!"(5)

Miroku's face turned slightly pink. "I… I don't recall ever doing such a thing…"

"Hmm… I'm at a loss…" muttered Sueko, feeling left out.

"Ditto," said Yoshiko.

"You know what?" said Sango suddenly, and so solemnly everyone was forced to look at her. "To this day I still can't believe he made all of his reincarnations die with him… including Kohaku…"

"Well," said Yoshiko after a slight pause, "technically he didn't kill all of his reincarnations… what about Kamatari?"

"Besides," said Sueko, smiling slightly. "Perhaps the shrine stones have the same power as the Shikon Jewel did and we're able to bring Kohaku back! And I'd actually get to meet him for once…"

"What are you all so upset about?" said a voice suddenly. Turning around the group saw Yukie show up looking exactly like she did the last time they had met her. She walked into the sort of circle the group had created while they were talking and stood in the middle of it with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. "Cheer up! I don't like depressing people!" she said.

Sango laughed weakly. "You make it sound so easy…"

"But look, I just made you laugh," said Yukie, leaning closer to Sango and pointing a finger at her. She wiggled her pointer finger in Sango's face a few times and Sango giggled again.

"Well, that was easy!" said Yukie, crossing her arms and stretching her smile.

"Have you come back to tell us where the Spirit Shrine is?" asked Yoshiko eagerly.

Yukie giggled. "No, silly!" she cried, waving a hand. "Why'd I go do that for? I already told you I couldn't!"

"Damn…" muttered Yoshiko.

"Haven't I already told you? I said I was coming back to train Sueko! You know, because she's so behind on her gifts and all…"

"Now I have a gift…" said Sueko. "Oh, wow, that just makes me feel so special inside…"

"Oh, shut up, you 'Last One'!" cried Yukie, clearly enjoying herself.

"Humph!" muttered Sueko, crossing her arms and scowling.

"If you don't mind me asking…" said Miroku suddenly, "what sort of training are you talking about?"

"I'm just going to show her how to use her sword!" said Yukie, sounding like a sixteen-year-old asking her dad if she could borrow the car. "Really, it's not that complicated!"

"Just asking!" said Miroku, holding his hands up.

"But I already know how to use my sword!" complained Sueko. "Yoshiko already taught me how to fight evil demons and protect myself and all that crap!"

"Have you been paying any attention at all?" asked Yukie. "There's no possible way she knows how to tap into that swords power, no matter how obsessed she is with the elemental shrines."

"Hey!"

"You have to admit that you are just a tad bit obsessed," said Sango sweetly to Yoshiko. But, not surprisingly, Yoshiko just ignored her.

"Now, if you excuse me…" said Yukie, putting her hands on Sueko's shoulders. "We'll be needing some privacy, so we'll be off…"

"You're just going to kidnap Sueko and train alone!" cried Yoshiko.

Yukie sighed impatiently. "Does it look like I'm kidnapping anyone?"

"You could take your hands off my shoulders," muttered Sueko, but it seemed as though no one had heard her.

"But…" whined Yoshiko. "Can't I come with?"

"Nope!" said Yukie.

"But… but… _why_?" cried Yoshiko.

"Because this requires the calming of the mind and you yelling won't help me get any work done!" said Yukie sternly.

"But… I'll be quiet! I don't yell! I rarely yell!" yelled Yoshiko.

"No," said Yukie firmly. Then with a grin she said, "Be back in a few!" and pushed Sueko out of the "circle" and deeper into the forest.

"Where are we going?" asked Sueko tiredly when they didn't stop for five whole minutes. The fact someone was pushing her made her feel nervous.

"We're going _here_!" said Yukie happily, stopping Sueko right in her tracks (Yukie's hand grip was pretty strong). Then Yukie took her hands off Sueko's shoulders, but not before turning Sueko around quickly to face her. She spun the girl so quickly she almost fell down in dizziness.

"Okay?" said Yukie to Sueko's wobbliness.

"Sure…" muttered Sueko, turning a bit pink and trying to stand straight.

"Well… get your sword out!" snapped Yukie in such a way that Sueko couldn't help being reminded of Takeno.

Which was why Sueko suddenly asked, "Do you know Takeno?"

"I beg your pardon?" said Yukie calmly, looking distracted as she scratched her chin.

"I said do you know Takeno? He's some old guy who makes swords and is related to Yoshiko," explained Sueko. "I was just wondering…"

"Hmm… Well, anyways, get your sword out. It does no good to learn how to use it if you don't have it!" said Yukie, clapping her hands together.

"But you didn't answer my question…" muttered Sueko.

"There's more important things to do besides solving random riddles!" said Yukie. "Now I seriously need you to get your sword out so you can use it."

"Okay, okay!" cried Sueko, yanking it out of its sheath. Then she held it out as if ready to fight while she looked expectantly at Yukie. But when Yukie just stood there and didn't say anything Sueko sighed impatiently.

"Aren't you supposed to order me to do something with my sword?" asked Sueko.

"I'm thinking!" cried Yukie with her arms crossed and her eyes closed.

"Okay…" mumbled Sueko timidly, taken aback by the shouting.

After a minute or two of just standing there Yukie finally opened her eyes and said slowly, "Just close your eyes and try to concentrate."

"On what?" asked Sueko.

"On its power…" said Yukie tiredly—but not as though she was tired with Sueko, just plain tired. "Try to focus on its power… try to sense it…"

"Alright…" mumbled Sueko, not knowing how in the world she'd be able to do so. But standing there with her eyes closed while holding out a sword in front of her just made her feel like an idiot, and she "sensed" no power at all from it.

"You're not doing it properly," said Yukie quietly, surprising Sueko. She opened her eyes just as Yukie was saying, "You're trying too hard. Just empty your mind and relax… you should just be able to sense the power without even trying."

When Sueko just stood there, blinking with doubtfulness, Yukie added with a smile, "And thinking that it's not going to work will only make it _not work_."

"How convenient…" muttered Sueko, closing her eyes and trying again. She tried not to think of anything (which was rather difficult since thoughts like "This is stupid" kept popping up) but all she got out of it was a slight warm, tingling feeling on her fingers where they touched the sword.

"That's pretty much all you'll get out of it for now," said Yukie, as if she could tell what Sueko was feeling. Which made Sueko feel nervous and made her eyes open again. "With practice you'll be able to actually understand the feeling."

"What's that supposed to mean?" cried Sueko.

"Well…" said Yukie slowly, "with time you'll be able to tell just _how much_ power something contains and _what kind of_ power it has. For now just feeling a weird tingly feeling is all you're gonna get."

"Do you enjoy reading my mind or something?" muttered Sueko moodily.

Yukie laughed. "I can't help it! Your feelings are practically screaming out loud!"

"Okay, what do I get to do next?" said Sueko, trying to change the subject.

"Hmm… I don't know. What do you want to do?" asked Yukie, grinning sheepishly.

"I don't know!" cried Sueko. "How should I know? I don't know anything about this sword!"

"Good point…" said Yukie, still smiling. "But apparently you figured out how to sense the Shrine Stones and to "listen" to the sword… maybe you can figure out the other stuff without my help."

"You know how _long_ it took to figure all of that out!" cried Sueko. "And apparently that's not even half the stuff my sword can do!"

"I'm sure you can figure it all out," said Yukie. She turned around so her back was to Sueko and looked as though she was planning on leaving.

"Wait a second. You're not going to teach me anything? You're just going to _leave_?" cried Sueko.

"Have confidence in yourself!" said Yukie, looking behind her. "I'm not saying I'm expecting great things out of you because you're the legendary 'Last One.' I'm saying I'm expecting great things out of you because you're Sueko. Plus I'm physic!"

Before Sueko could ask what in the hell all of that meant Yukie turned her head and walked away, seeming to disappear into the trees. Sighing in frustration, Sueko sheathed her sword and tried her best to find her way back to the others, luckily finding them fifteen minutes later.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Yoshiko when she saw Sueko's scowl. "Don't tell me you learned all of this amazing Spiritual Power and you're _ungrateful_!"

"What did I ever do to get such a confusing, frustrating ancestor?" moaned Sueko, leaning her head on a tree.

* * *

**HMM… WHAT TO CALL THIS? FOOTNOTES, I SUPPOSE… AND SOME MORE POINTLESS RANDOM BABBLING!**  
((Sorry, BlackTearsOfDarkness, for copying you with the footnotes thing but I actually needed them in this chapter. So don't kill me, k?))

1: I figured that since Sueko already had a lame last name (Kimochi means feeling in Japanese) I'd have her mother have a lame last name too (seeing how Sueko's last name is from her father's… You get it, right?). Anyways, Kokoro means spirit in Japanese if I remember right… which is so incredibly cheesy but I have no clue where I'd be able to find Japanese surnames online and I don't have the time to figure it out!

2: We already went through this, but just as a reminder Tora means tiger in Japanese. Which is also incredibly cheesy, but the lameness is all Ravyn's! Even though I'm the one with the Japanese dictionary (I stole it from my sister. Don't tell. My sister's evil anyways. I think she's a creation from Naraku. It'd explain a lot!) that helped her with the name choosing… whatever!

3: If you look up red in my Japanese dictionary it says it's akai. However, Ravyn was finding out a name for Yoshiko's new sword on a Japanese **name** website, so Akako is an actual name that happens to mean red.

4: Okay, so I'm not translating anything… But I disagree with this statement (which is okay because Ravyn wrote it)! I believe Koga is loyal and would do anything to protect "his woman." He was always saving Kagome after all! Though when he did it was actually sort of pointless… but it's the thought that counts! And I just want to point something out that I never did before… _clears throat_ Remember when Koga first showed up and he acted like he didn't care that Kagome died? My interpretation of his character is that if he has a problem with something he would never express this except to himself. (Like Tsume! ((he's from Wolf's Rain)) except Koga's a lot more nicer than Tsume. And hotter. Tsume looks like such a wannabe-Koga anyways… COVER UP MORE! Whatever…) So on the outside he doesn't care about Kagome's death but inside his heart was slowly breaking into a thousand tiny witty little bits… Go drama! Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that incase you were totally bugged by that… I know my friend Alyssa would because she probably worships the ground that hot wolf demon walks on… Okay, I'm exaggerating… Besides, I'm supposed to "like" InuYasha, not Koga. If any of my friends are reading this they are probably extremely confused!

5: This was totally taken from the second InuYasha movie. It popped into my head and I couldn't resist! By the way, the movie is pretty spiffy so if you haven't seen it yet… try to! Shippo was actually pretty cool in it, and Shippo is kinda annoying so this was sorta weird, but whatever! Everyone was awesome in it, except InuYasha and Kagome. They got kinda annoying. Well, Kagome is ALWAYS annoying… but don't watch it in Japanese. I watched it in Japanese (with the English captions, duh. I don't know Japanese! All I know are these really random words. And I can say only one sentence in the language and that's it! Wa doko e yuku (means "where are you going?" Got it off .hack/SIGN) and I wanted to kill InuYasha, he was THAT annoying. "Kagome? Oh my God, KAGOME! NO, KAAAAAAAGOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEE!" except in Japanese. And maybe not that pathetic… but Kagome needed to be rescued (what's new?) and InuYasha was just being so annoying. And Kagome was being more annoying than usual. And whenever Japanese-voice-InuYasha screamed out or cried out it just sounded sooooo annoying. I've seen the TV show in Japanese and I seriously think they got a different person for the second movie. He's actually cool sounding on the TV show in Japanese!

6: Don't you remember? Iwau means celebrate in Japanese! Just reminding you…

Hmm… I'm gonna shut up now and let you, like, reply and move on with your lives. And then maybe get some FMA (Full Metal Alchemist) and Wolf's Rain pics… because I like to get tons of anime pictures. It's something to do when you're bored and you can't think of anything to write. _Tries not to look guiltily_ But hey, Ravyn's writing a whole bunch! I'm just not writing my part… Whatever! Sayonara!


	27. The Boy She Thought She Loved

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**There isn't much to say… Besides the fact that I'm sorry my teachers gave me all these huge assignments so my bright idea to edit this as quick as possible failed… But, hey, I finished editing and I'm posting this at ten o'clock at night so there! And this is only possible because my sister isn't on the computer (I get it afternoon, she gets it evening…) so don't expect me to stay up late to do this often! I could be staying up to read my book—it's totally awesome! It's called _The Silver Wolf_ and about this Roman girl who can turn into a wolf… adventure, sci-fi, and romance… what more could I want!—but nooooo, I have to post this stupid update! Whatever…

**DISCLAIMER  
**Oh my God… do you people not get this! It's not that hard to comprehend: If it's not from the manga or TV show, WE OWN IT! NO FREAKIN' DUH!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Boy She Thought She Loved**

To think it had been twelve years—exactly. Twelve very long years… To think she remembered the exact date. But it was there. In fact, it had popped into her head that night when she woke up early to write some more notes. Sure, she had written most of what Yukie had said and done but every time she almost got to sleep she figured out something new. So giving into her sleeplessness she took her notebook and went a little ways away from the sleeping forms of her friends. Since it was the half moon it was a bit difficult to write since she didn't have cat eyes. But even her human eyes could see far better than any normal mortal.

'If humans are mortals what does that make demons?' wondered Yoshiko, not for the first time. 'What exactly would you call an immortal?'

Sighing, she returned to scribbling down a few more things she remembered Yukie saying and what she thought it could mean. Though half of it sounded silly she didn't cross out anything. It could all prove to be valuable later and to ruin it now would be idiotic. Then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, she realized it was nearing the middle of March. In fact, if she wasn't much mistaken, it was the same day she had left her brother twelve years ago.

"How to celebrate such a strange anniversary…" mused Yoshiko, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You're going to hurt your eyes in this lighting," said InuYasha, standing over her with his arms crossed.

"Nice to know somebody cares," sighed Yoshiko, resting her head on her knees. "I'm done anyways."

"What are you doing up this late anyways?" asked InuYasha, sitting down. He said it almost in a worried manner that caused Yoshiko to cock her head in confusion.

"Couldn't get to sleep," muttered Yoshiko, feeling too sleepy to come up with a better excuse.

"Looks like you could now," joked InuYasha, poking her arm lightly. Then he frowned. "Hey, you okay? You look kind of pale."

"Hmmm?" said Yoshiko, trying to keep her eyes opened. "Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry."

"You're not getting off that easily," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes and moving to sit on the back of his heels to get a better look at her. "I would think that you're maybe sick. You really don't look good at all."

"Shove off," yawned Yoshiko, pushing the half dog demon over. Surprisingly he didn't yell at her but just glared. "Just tired, okay?"

"No, not okay," said InuYasha, stretching out on his side completely. "Something's bothering you."

"Are you butting in, InuYasha?" teased Sango, sitting up. Sueko, Miroku and Shippo soon followed her. "We see Yoshiko getting into people's lives all the time. You going to join her?"

"What?" cried InuYasha, jumping to his feet. "She's my friend! Can't I be worried every so often?"

"Sweet," murmured Yoshiko into her knees, stretching out. Then she got to her feet just as the sun was starting to rise. "But I'll be just fine. Oh, and—"

"Where do you want to go this time?" sighed InuYasha, crossing his arms. "You just saw Utako and Takeno. I don't think you want to repeat those experiences any time soon."

"Maybe she wants to see Sesshomaru," said Miroku, his eyes twinkling. Yoshiko laughed.

"Last time I saw him I gave him quite a bit to think about," she said. "I think it would be best to not see him anytime soon."

"What did you say to him?" asked Sango. Ever since she and Yoshiko went first met Utako she had been taking an active roll in Yoshiko and Sesshomaru's relationship.

"I told him I didn't care that he had kissed Rheda," shrugged Yoshiko. "I think that's what had been bothering him because he had been awfully quiet after one day."

"I still don't get it," muttered Sueko, shaking her head. The reason she said it quietly was so InuYasha wouldn't notice. But he did anyways and turned his gaze up at the sky, blinking guiltily. It was actually quite funny.

"Anyways, I remember there being a library at the Tiger Demon Den," said Yoshiko, grabbing up her stuff. "So I was going to see if it was still there."

"Just because Yukie showed up?" said Sango. "Well, we could all go if that's what you're doing."

"No," said Yoshiko abruptly. "Rheda might be there and if other people were there we could get lost in the den…"

"That's such a pathetic excuse," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "Look, we have nothing better to do. Let us come with."

"I'd much rather be alone," snapped Yoshiko, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'll catch up later."

With that she walked off without any clear reason for why she snapped or a specific destination. She had no real thought of going anywhere near the place where her aunt might be—which that probably ruled out going to see Sesshomaru as well. Plus she really did just want to be alone. It left her with time to think and for the first time since she met Sueko and the others she thought of her brother. And she didn't mind. After a while she turned north, toward the mountains, hoping to look for the Spirit Shrine.

Half the day went by and she didn't bother stopping at any of the villages along the way until she realized that she recognized the surrounding area. In fact, she had been here almost five years ago. But still she didn't think about visiting the village until she stumbled across a very familiar clearing…

In this clearing stood the remains of a half finished hut. Upon seeing it Yoshiko's breath got stuck in her chest. This was the place where she had almost reached her dream and where she had lost her first love. Sighing, she walked over to the hut and rested a hand on the wall. Carefully. If she had put any more pressure on it she was sure it would collapse. In fact, she was surprised that it was still standing after all these years. After all, there was no point in keeping it anymore seeing as how Raoul was dead and she had run away in fear. Even though this village had always been very kind to her… more so than her home village…

"I wouldn't let it decay," said a girls voice from behind her. "It was the last thing Raoul ever worked on, after all. Besides, we always hoped you would come back."

"What would be the point?" sighed Yoshiko, turning toward the owner of the voice, her hands touching the hut behind her. "I wouldn't be able to do anything with it."

"You could live in it," said a young woman, hovering at the edge of the trees. She wore the regular garb of a village girl along with a weathered green bandana. It covered the top of her long dark brown hair. A little bang peaked out and fell into her brown eyes. All in all there wasn't really anything special about her as she held her skirt out of the mud with one hand and a few flowers in her other. "That was the point of it, wasn't it?"

"The point was to live in it with Raoul," said Yoshiko, looking up and away. "What brings you here anyways, Tani?"

The girl held up the flowers in her hand and replied, "Came to visit Raoul."

At this Yoshiko's head snapped back at the village girl. But it seemed like Tani didn't realize this reaction but just walked toward the hut and into it. Hesitating at first, Yoshiko then followed the girl inside and saw her crouching in one of the corners. Noticing Tani muttering a few things the half-demon staid in the doorway, respecting the girl's space. Then Tani set her flowers down on a slight mound in the hut and stood back up.

"We buried him here because I thought that you would come back and stay here with him," she explained. "Just because he's dead doesn't mean you can't be with him."

"You can't hold onto someone who is dead forever," said Yoshiko.

Suddenly she realized that she hadn't let go of him… but forgotten. In a way to stop the pain she had banished Raoul completely from her mind. And suddenly, looking upon the place where he had died, memories flashed back to her and tears started streaming down her cheeks. Tani, an almost indifferent look plastered on her face, walked over and hugged the half-demon. It surprised Yoshiko at first when the arms circled around her neck (the girl was pretty tall) in a loose hug. When the tears stopped Yoshiko took Tani's arms and pulled her away.

"Why do you come here?" asked Yoshiko.

"I don't blame you…" muttered Tani, looking away. But when the half-demon's grip tightened the girl sighed and looked at Yoshiko. "You weren't the only one that loved him."

The only thing Yoshiko could think of doing after that was letting go of Tani and nodding. It was a numb sort of nod, like she wasn't sure how she should feel. In fact, she didn't want to think about how she felt about it. She muttered a quick "Good-bye" and then rushed off, feeling tears welling in her eyes again. This time she tried to fight them back, hoping that she could just forget about him again. But her short visit to her would-be home opened a door that flooded her brain and heart with memories she never wished to revisit. Despite her wish she found herself stumbling through the trees much like she had after Raoul had died. Finally she stopped and sat down, willing Kikyo to show up again and wash away all her pain. Instead somebody else showed up.

"What are you all upset about?" came a familiar, almost painfully happy, voice. "Cheer up! I don't like depressing people."

A hand appeared before Yoshiko's face, a lot like when Kikyo had showed up, and like five years ago she took it. Slowly she got to her feet and found herself face to face with Yukie, a small smile on her face. The happy expression almost made Yoshiko feel sick. Grabbing her stomach she pulled out of Yukie's grasp and turned away, tears falling down her face again. She tried to tell Yukie to go away but the words wouldn't come and a flash of Kikyo's stern face popped into her mind. At the short intense glare the tears stopped.

"Are you okay?" asked Yukie, as Yoshiko started hiccupping.

"I'm fine…" choked Yoshiko. "Please, just leave me alone…"

"I really don't think it would be safe to leave you alone," said Yukie, hands on her hips. "What are you doing alone anyways?"

"Being alone," muttered Yoshiko in little more than a whisper. "To give me time to think about my brother. He died on this day, twelve years ago."

She couldn't believe she was staying it out loud to another person. But it was almost like the words had been put into her mouth. Maybe it was another way of Yukie being psychic, she could make people answer her questions truthfully. In fact, she could recall reading about it somewhere… And then she realized she hadn't read it but somebody else had. Maybe Yukie? But then why was she recalling it?

"That's a very depressing date to remember," said Yukie, scratching her head. "Don't you think it's a bit sad to recall this day over every other one?"

"Depressing?" said Yoshiko thoughtfully, turning around. "Funny, I never put depressing to it. I just always found it odd that I could remember the day. I never put 'depressing' to this day."

"Is that why you were crying?" asked Yukie, causing Yoshiko to wipe her swollen, red eyes.

"Actually, no," sighed Yoshiko, feeling again as if the words were being put straight into her mouth. But she really didn't mind. She wanted to say it anyways. "I just went by the place where I saw this guy I liked die… While he was building our home."

"Like…" said Yukie perplexedly. "Like? He was making your house and you say you only _liked _him?"

"Well, I can't really be sure that I ever really loved him," said Yoshiko, her voice a little higher but not really yelling yet. "I just kind of _wanted_ to love him so I could feel normal."

"It's almost impossible to be normal, dear," said Yukie, "because nobody is normal."

"Maybe not normal… so I could feel human, how about that?" said Yoshiko. "Which is why I want to find the Spirit Shrine. Maybe it could make me human…"

"That's a bit selfish," said Yukie.

"Then I won't have to worry about my fear," said Yoshiko. "About being a demon and hurting my friends. Because I'll be human and nothing near being a demon."

"That's true…" muttered Yukie. "But what makes you think that the shrine has that sort of power?"

"I don't really. It was my own deduction seeing as Akemi could send a demon almost stronger than her to hell," said Yoshiko. "And the fact that many of the strongest priestesses got their powers from that shrine. Plus the Shikon Jewel was created only because of the existence of the Spirit Shrine."

"You are intelligent," said Yukie with a sly smile. "Well, I'll tell you this much: the power of the Shikon Jewel is nothing compared to that of the Spirit Shrine."

With that she started to walk away, but this time it was Yoshiko's turn to ask a question.

"Where did you read up on your information?" she blurted out. With a grin Yukie turned back around.

"It's nowhere you couldn't find it. In fact, it's been under your nose the entire time; you're just too afraid to go find it," said Yukie. "The library rotates but with the awakening of the stones there hasn't been anytime to move it. See ya!"

* * *

"How can we leave if Yoshiko isn't around?" cried Sueko as the group decided to start traveling again. "She wouldn't be able to find us if we keep moving our location!"

"Yoshiko's a big girl. She can find us when she wants to," muttered InuYasha. He wasn't really in the mood to argue.

Sueko sighed. "I guess you're right… but she might be a bit cranky when she comes back and discovers we found another elemental stone without her or something."

InuYasha raised his eyebrows at the girl, surprised at what she had said—she'd usually continue arguing about something like this.

"Are you coming or not?" asked Sango, lifting up her boomerang from where it had been leaning against the hut.

With a shrug InuYasha followed Sueko, who rushed inside the hut to grab her book bag before following Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara.

Oddly enough, InuYasha wouldn't mind running into some sort of demon or another. Even though the group was up on their feet again he still felt extremely bored… and it's not like he could ask Sueko if he could borrow that weird game thing because Shippo was playing with that. And the game would probably be very lame, like that Pok-mon one.

Sueko seemed to notice InuYasha's restlessness because she said to him with her arms crossed, "Don't tell me you completely forgot about that CD player I gave to you!"

"That thing?" said InuYasha. "Oh… it kind of broke…"

"What do you mean it broke!" cried Sueko. "It was brand new when I gave it to you! Don't tell me you broke it!"

"I didn't break it!" cried InuYasha, crossing his arms also. "It just wouldn't play anymore. It's not my fault it suddenly stopped working! All that stuff from your time is really confusing to work with anyways!"

Sueko uncrossed her arms and stared blankly at him. "You mean it suddenly stopped working? Like that?"

"Uh huh…"

Sueko laughed. "I get it now! It needs batteries!"

"What!"

But Sueko ignored InuYasha as she started digging around in her book bag, pulling things out once and a while that got in her way and shoving them into Miroku's hands. Miroku looked bewildered at the many strange things from Sueko's time that were in his hands but then Sueko cried out, "Tada!" and pulled out two small cylinder-like things.

"What are _those_?" asked Shippo from Sango's shoulder in amazement, looking at the things in Sueko's hand.

"Batteries," said Sueko. "See, they give electronic things power…"

"Uh huh…" said Miroku, trying but failing miserably to look like he understood what Sueko had said. Plus all the weird objects in his hands were already overwhelmed him.

"Now where's the CD player?" asked Sueko impatiently, turning to InuYasha.

"Um…" said InuYasha, digging around for the strange object that played music. He found it eventually and handed it to Sueko. It looked as though she was taking it apart as she pulled two cylinder things similar to the "batteries" in her hand, only to replace them with the two in her hand. Shoving the other two somewhere in her book bag, she gave InuYasha back the music-thing and said, "There, it should work now."

"Um… Sueko? Would you like your things back?" asked Miroku sheepishly as Sango and Shippo picked up a few of the strange objects to examine them.

Sueko laughed, and started putting the things back in her book bag as InuYasha stared at the music-thing, trying to figure out how to make it play. Eventually Sueko took the thing out of InuYasha's hands, pushed a button, and shoved the thing back into his hands impatiently. But before InuYasha could put the earpieces in a familiar scent filled his nose.

"Someone's coming…" he muttered, trying to look through the trees to see them.

"We've been walking for not even ten minutes and already some demon's after me?" said Sueko.

"No… It's definitely a human," said InuYasha. Even though he could hear the mortal approaching he had to give them props for being so sneaky—it took even him a while to tell where they were coming from and he was the demon. Well, half demon…

"Well, if it's human then we don't really have to worry, now don't we?" said Sueko confidently.

"Not all humans are good," said Sango, looking around as well.

After several minutes of the group trying to sense where the person was coming from and not really making much progress in their travels _they_ finally showed themselves. And in seeing this person InuYasha's first thought was, 'Kikyo…'

Seconds later InuYasha mentally hit himself for thinking such a thing. Kikyo was long gone—not even her dead self was around anymore. However, the woman standing before them looked very similar to the Kikyo InuYasha once knew. Her outfit looked like the outfit of a priestess, except instead of it being red and white it was blue and white. The woman's hair was put up in the same fashion as Kikyo's except instead of it being black as night was the same pale brown color as that of dead leaves on the ground. Her face was narrower than Kikyo's, and she was smaller than her as well. In fact, it looked as though this woman hadn't taken care of her health as well as she should have if her pale complexion and slenderness had anything to say to it.

The most alarming thing about the woman besides reminding InuYasha so much of Kikyo was her eyes. They were quite ordinary, plain eyes that were hazel in color. InuYasha couldn't read the woman's expression at all as it was pretty indifferent looking, but her eyes seemed to tell all that she was thinking and felt. They were deep, sad eyes that looked like the person had experience many terrible things despite her youth. And that only made InuYasha think of Kikyo even more.

Before the group could say anything the young woman spoke first, with her eyes looking at InuYasha as though looking _through_ him as she said, "Are _you_ the half demon InuYasha?"

* * *

At first Yukie's words only succeeded in confusing Yoshiko as she wondered aimlessly back to Sueko and the others. Then again she wasn't really thinking about what the woman had to say but more about Raoul. She missed him: his smile, his laugh and the look in his eyes whenever he brought her flowers. Every time she had felt so awkward but he was always okay with it. He never saw it as a 'I'm don't really like you' but more of a 'I'm a shy girl that's not that intone with her feelings.' And in truth that was exactly what she was. Had been. Now she wasn't as shy but more outgoing. But she found it was a far more effective way to hide what she felt, even to herself. Suddenly the last time Raoul brought her flowers played in her head.

"_Hey Yoshiko, you got a moment?" he had said, climbing up the hill to her._

"_Yeah, it's not like I've got anything to do. You're the one that's busy with all your farming."_

"_I got you these," he said, handing her some flowers._

_A small sad smile crossed her face as she took the flowers delicately and looked down at them._

"_Thank you," she said in a small voice._

"_That's not the only reason I came," said Raoul, his voice sounding so confident. "I was wondering if maybe you would like to spend the rest of your life with me. In our own house…"_

_Yoshiko gasped and looked up, happiness dancing across her face. A grin was on Raoul's face as the half-demon cried out loud "Yes!" and leapt at him, encircling his neck with her arms. A few villagers that had come to watch clapped and cheered, knowing that this day had been coming for half a year now._

Then the vision faded into darkness, soon replaced by Raoul's crippled, bleeding body as the ogre stood over him. Yoshiko soon shook it out of her mind, knowing if she dwelt on it she would end up crying again. Suddenly she knew where the library was, the one Yukie had mentioned. But before she could decide to go there her ears twitched a familiar sound. She groaned as a wind tornado made it's way in front of her and turned into a wolf demon—a wolf demon that she knew all too well: Koga.

"Hey darling, I brought you something," he said with a grin, holding up some freshly picked small blue flowers.

Yoshiko gasped, but this time not out excitement but in horror. With shaking hands she took the flowers, her bangs shadowing her eyes. A look of confusion crossed over Koga's face as Yoshiko started to shake all over. She didn't even know if it was from silent sobs or from anger. Finally she managed to speak.

"Why?" she hissed. "Why me? Why flowers?"

"Because you're a funny, entertaining, quite attractive and an outgoing young woman!" said Koga. "Who couldn't help but like you?"

In his words echoed almost the exact same thing Raoul had said to her when he first brought her flowers. His answer was a little different but they both meant the same thing. They liked her and as far as they were concerned she was the best girl they could have ever met. But to her eyes they would be far better off with somebody else. Would have been, in Raoul's case. Before she could say anything, however, Koga was moving onto the next question.

"And I brought you flowers because that's what guys do for girl's they like," said Koga. "Bring them gifts like flowers. Why, you don't like them?"

"No… I love them…" muttered Yoshiko. "But…"

"Hey, you okay?" asked Koga, cocking his head to the side to try and look her in the eyes. "Was it something I said?"

"It was everything you said!" choked Yoshiko, the tears starting to fall down her cheeks again. "I don't deserve it, Koga! I don't even deserve a jerk like you! Please, just leave me alone!"

"In this state?" cried Koga. "I don't think so!"

"What is it with everybody today?" screamed Yoshiko. "I don't care if I don't look fine! I won't be fine until you just give me space. Leave me alone, god damn it!"

"What's up? You really don't sound like you're doing all that good," said Koga, sounding deeply worried. "I don't think I've ever seen this side of you. What brought this about?"

"Everything," hissed Yoshiko, pushing Koga away. "I don't want flowers! Where the hell am I supposed to put them? I DON'T HAVE ANYWHERE TO LIVE!"

With that she threw them on the ground and stepped on them with her foot. But Koga just gave her a pitying look, acting as if he knew how she felt. But he didn't. He couldn't. Nobody could. Thirteen years ago she lost her stepmother and her father. Twelve years ago her father died and she had to leave her brother. Eight years ago she burned a village just to kill a freakin' demon. Six years ago she met Raoul and almost though she had found her happy ending. A year later he died and she was left alone again. Now everything came crashing down on top of her as if meeting Sueko and the others had punctured the dam that kept everything back. No, they had completely destroyed it because it wasn't coming at her in a steady gush. It was everything falling on her at once and her so-called friends were just standing on the sidelines, laughing.

"So next time I won't bring flowers," shrugged Koga. "I'll bring you something that you can take with you when you're traveling.

"I'm sorry, Koga, but there won't be a next time," muttered Yoshiko darkly, shaking in anger and frustration. "I want you to just leave me alone. And I mean it. Don't you ever come near me again, understand?"

"Excuse me?" said Koga, blinking. "What, are you breaking up with me?"

"Idiot!" snapped Yoshiko. "We were never together to begin with! Now leave me alone!"

With that she turned on her heels and left Koga standing alone, confused. But she didn't care. All she cared about was getting as far away from her memories and her pain as possible. Slowly she started to mend the rift between her bad times and the slight happiness she had. She knew it would be a long process and she decided to hole up in the Earth Shrine until she was sure she could face Sueko. There was no need of snapping at one of her friends like she had with Koga. With Koga she felt no regrets but she knew that it would hurt Sueko. And that was something that Yoshiko wouldn't be able to live with.

'But I'll have to face her at some point,' thought Yoshiko. 'I just can't do it now.'

Surprisingly, as she slipped off to sleep that night, her last thought wasn't of Godric, Raoul or even Sueko. No, instead she imagined in great detail Sesshomaru and Rheda kissing… and she felt as if a bit of her heart was ripped away. Part of her didn't know why, but she still found herself crying herself to sleep.

* * *

_Before the group could say anything the young woman spoke first, with her eyes looking at InuYasha as though looking _through_ him as she said, "Are _you_ the half demon InuYasha?"_

"What's it to you?" muttered InuYasha crankily.

"I'll take that as a yes," said the woman, her face still indifferent.

"May we ask what your name is?" said Sango kindly.

"Sachiko…" the woman muttered as if not wanting to mention it. But then she turned her head back to InuYasha and said quite clearly, "I have a proposition to make."

"With me?" cried InuYasha, surprised. This was probably going to make him end up somewhere he didn't want to be.

"What kind of proposition?" asked Sueko curiously.

The young woman named Sachiko hesitated before saying, "I need you to… destroy something for me."

"And you can't do this on your own _why_?" muttered InuYasha, crossing his arms tiredly.

"Because… it's too difficult for me to do it on my own. No matter how many times I've tired… I just can't," said Sachiko, not meeting InuYasha's eyes.

"Uh huh…" said InuYasha, his tone and face full of doubt about the girl.

It seemed as though Sueko didn't find this at all suspicious as she asked, "What do mean 'destroy something'?"

"She's a shape-shifter," said Sachiko simply.

"You mean you want us to kill a demon for you because you're too weak to do it on your own?" said InuYasha.

Sachiko's eyes narrowed. "It's not that I'm _weak_… It's more complicated than that."

"A shape-shifter?" said Sueko, looking amazed. "Isn't that what Shippo does?"

"He can't do it that well," said Miroku.

"What do you mean I can't do it that well!" cried Shippo.

"Are you going to do it or not?" asked Sachiko impatiently to InuYasha.

"What's in it for me?" asked InuYasha in almost a teasing manner.

Sachiko's lip curled up ever so slightly as she pulled out a perfectly round, deep blue stone and held it up to InuYasha.

"What's that supposed to be?" said InuYasha, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a water stone, you idiot!" cried Sueko, smacking InuYasha on the back of the head. "Are you blind!"

"You don't have to shout…" muttered InuYasha, rubbing the back of his head.

"So?" said Sachiko, waiting for an answer.

Before InuYasha could open his mouth in reply Miroku had said for him, "We'll do it!"

Sachiko stood there, rolling the stone around her hand with her fingers, before closing her hand completely around it and putting it back in her pocket. Seeing this, Sueko cried, "Wait, you're not going to give it to us?"

"I can't give it to you until you do what I want," said Sachiko simply. With that she turned to leave, adding before disappearing completely, "I'll be back soon."

"Yes, but how do we do what you want when we don't know what to do?" muttered Sueko, crossing her arms.

"We know what we're supposed to do, though," said Sango.

"Oh, yes, we're killing a shape-shifter. How specific!" said Sueko huffily.

"It's not like there's that many around to choose from…" said Miroku thoughtfully.

"But why'd she go to InuYasha to do it?" asked Sueko curiously.

"Feh!" said InuYasha with a laugh. "She's probably heard about how powerful I am!"

"Hmm… You're not _that_ powerful…" muttered Sueko.

"Who says!" cried InuYasha.

Sueko smiled sweetly. "How can you be so powerful yet so arrogant?"

"What? Hey!"

"You two are so immature!" said Shippo.

"And you aren't?" muttered Sueko.

"I'm not immature!" cried InuYasha.

"Well, I'm not immature so it has to be someone!" said Sueko, glaring at InuYasha. InuYasha stopped in his tracks and glared back, and Sango, Miroku and Shippo stopped traveling to see what would happen next. They weren't too surprised with the results.

"InuYasha!"

"What?"

"SIT!"

* * *

A young girl with raven colored hair sat underneath a tree, twirling around a fancy red and black dagger with her fingers as she thought of nothing in particular. She was dressed in strange garments: an odd looking white shirt with a green skirt. She also wore very strange shoes, which were brown and made of leather. Her outfit was unheard of in the Feudal Era but she'd have fit right in at some other era. But the strangest thing about her yet was her bright blue eyes, which was extremely rare in Japan. But she wasn't just some ordinary girl.

She heard footsteps nearby but didn't do anything about. In fact, it looked as though she had never noticed them at all even though they were barely twenty feet behind her, as she continued to twirl the wicked looking dagger in her fingers. Not only was the blade of it extremely sharp, the handle of it had blades coming out of it too. The girl looked unbothered by this, seemed only bored as the dagger continued to spin by her fingers touch.

The owner of the footsteps was a woman that went by the name of Sachiko. The girl didn't need to see the woman to tell this; she could just tell by the pattern of the footsteps. Flicking the messy black hair out of her face, she tiredly waited for the woman to finally notice her appearance.

It didn't take long. Sachiko barely passed the tree the strange girl was leaning against before spinning around hurriedly and glaring at her. When the girl didn't look up at her Sachiko sighed wearily and said, "Just what do you think you're doing, Sukiyama?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" said the young girl, not looking up, only staring straight ahead at the spinning dagger.

"Stop pretending to be someone you aren't. I feel sorry for the poor girl you're impostering!" ordered Sachiko.

"Oh, don't worry about what she thinks," said the girl cheerfully. "She's no longer alive!"

Sachiko blinking a few seconds before screaming, "You mean you _killed_ the poor girl!"

"Oh, no, nothing like that!" said the girl, giggling girlishly and waving a hand, stopping the dagger from twirling. She set the dagger next to the ground where a belt with the dagger's twin laid beside the tree, and then she stood up, twirling slightly just for the fun of it before standing face-to-face with Sachiko. Except Sachiko was pretty tall so she was towering over the girl.

"She was already dead," said the girl, continuing with what she had said. "That made it difficult to get what I wanted accomplished… especially when his new _wench_ showed up…"

"What are you talking about?" said Sachiko angrily. "Wait, I'm not sure I want to know… Would you just turn back to yourself?"

"Fine, you party pooper!" said the girl, faking hurt. Putting her arms at her sides, the girl closed her eyes and narrowed her eyebrows as she concentrated. Suddenly, a line of light started at her feet and as it went up, she changed. Her odd, brown, leather shoes became simple sandals; her green skirt grew to a strange blue, yellow, and white kimono-like dress; her white shirt from a different time formed to be the torso to the kimono; her height grew to compete with Sachiko; the messy black hair became more tame and grew to her waist; nearly her whole entire face changed except for the eyes, which stayed that bright blue color.

The girl had turned from Higurashi Kagome to Tanaka Sukiyama.(1)

"Better?" said Sukiyama with a slight smirk, crossing her arms like the transformation had been a big drag. But it never bothered her.

Sachiko just shook her head at Sukiyama. In response Sukiyama said in dramatically hurtful tones, "I've always respected you, Onee-chan! I can't understand why you don't like me back…"(2)

"How could anyone like you?" cried Sachiko. "You're pure evil!"

"Well… I was thinking we could look past that in our relationship…" said Sukiyama pleasantly.

"What scheme are you cooking up now?" Sachiko asked tiredly as if wanting to change the subject.

"Nothing right now," said Sukiyama with a dramatic sigh. "My last thing didn't go so well… If only his new _wench_ didn't show up!"

"Who are you talking about?" asked Sachiko.

"I was trying to get those shrine stones everyone is_ so_ fascinated by," spat Sukiyama heatedly. "Being Sesshomaru and that half tiger demon didn't work, so I tried to get what I wanted out of that half demon mutt, but that other wench showed up, ruining everything!"

"A half dog demon…" muttered Sachiko.

"Why would you care about him for?" said Sukiyama, still sour from the memory of her failed plan. "Are you allies with him or something?"

"I guess you could say that…" muttered Sachiko, as though she was just realizing something, while at the same time looking as though she was trying to hide something.

"Hmm…" said Sukiyama, not sure if she should question her sister further or not. But she figured the attempt would be rather pointless so she decided not to.

"So…" said Sukiyama, examining her fingernails closely with an indifferent expression on her face, "have you come to try again?"

Sachiko glared. "I'm past that."

"Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that…" muttered Sukiyama, not being able to hide the grin that showed up on her face.

But as soon as it had come it quickly melted away as, with a look full of hurt and anger, Sachiko stepped closer to Sukiyama only to slap her on the face—_hard_.

Sukiyama lost her cheerful attitude as she put a hand to her smarting cheek and narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"I don't have time for your teasing," spat Sachiko. And without another word she spun around and left Sukiyama standing under a tree.

Sukiyama leaned over to pick up her belt, tying it around her waist and putting the dagger back into it.

'Sometimes I wonder if she actually thinks it's _my_ fault mother and father are dead…' thought Sukiyama before leaving the tree.

* * *

"Talk about your weird experiences," sighed Sueko after the groups meeting with Sachiko, raising her arms to stretch for no particular reason.

"I don't know…" muttered InuYasha. "There's something about her that I don't like…"

"Would that be because she reminds you too much of Kikyo?" said Miroku in a teasing way.

InuYasha growled. "Don't you people think I have other things going on in my mind besides my dead girlfriends!"

"Not really," said Shippo, which earned him a bop on the head.

"Who's Kikyo?" asked Sueko curiously.

"Just some girl that got tricked, along with me, by Naraku," said InuYasha with a shrug.

"Wow…" said Sango, amazed at what he had said. Which just annoyed him further.

"Oh!" said Sueko. "So was she the girl that got you stuck to a tree for fifty years?"

"Uh huh…" muttered InuYasha, his eye twitching ever so slightly.

"Don't tell me you're still not over her yet!" cried Shippo, pretty bodily considering InuYasha's mood.

"WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP ABOUT IT!" bellowed InuYasha.

"Fine," muttered Sueko, crossing her arms and trying to look bothered by it.

When InuYasha noticed something bouncing in the grass his mood did not improve at all. Sueko noticed this too and stared wide-eyed as the thing hopped up to InuYasha's chest and started sucking his blood.

InuYasha smacked his hand on the thing on his chest, causing it to fall to the ground as it muttered, "No respect… no respect whatsoever…"

"Is that you, Myoga?" asked Sueko curiously.

"Oh, so now you remember me…" muttered Myoga, jumping back up to InuYasha's shoulder and crossing his arms moodily.

"What do you want, Myoga?" asked InuYasha tiredly.

"Master InuYasha, I really would expect better of you," muttered Myoga. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your elders!"

"But you're a flea!" said Sueko.

"Honestly!" cried the flea.

"What do you want, Myoga?" asked Miroku patiently.

"Well, as you well know I left so I could find out about the 'Last One's' ancestor and—"

"My name is Sueko!" cried Sueko bitterly.

"Let me finish!" cried Myoga, jumping up and down and waving his arms about. Sueko just muttered bitterly and crossed her arms.

"_Anyways_! After leaving I found out some interesting information about the Water Shrine," continued Myoga.

"Really?" said Sueko, uncrossing her arms. "Does that mean it's nearby?"

"It's several leagues west, so I suppose you could say it's nearby…" muttered Myoga.

"Don't humans protect the Water Shrine?" thought Sango out loud.

"_Did_," said Myoga solemnly. "Apparently the village that protected it was destroyed nine years ago. Though I can't figure out _how_ precisely it was destroyed, just that it _is_…"

"A whole entire village… _destroyed_?" cried Sueko, amazed.

"Was the shrine damaged as well?" asked Miroku.

"I saw no signs of it," said Myoga. "Though, of course, there could have been some sort of barrier over it to protect it, making it to where no one could find it by mere sight… However, I doubt an ordinary mortal would possess that sort of power. Besides, the Earth Shrine's barrier wasn't that strong at all, and that too was protected by humans…"

"You went to the Earth Shrine too?" asked Sueko.

"No, I was with Yoshiko and we went a long time ago," said Myoga. "Are you telling me she never informed you of this?"

"She told me…" said Sango.

"Maybe she didn't find it that important…" said Sueko. "It would be pretty random to just suddenly say, 'Hey, guess what? I visited the Earth Shrine with Myoga!'"

"She was actually just visiting the spot that they buried her brother," said Sango. "And then she decided to go to the Earth Shrine. But all she found there was the bit about the legend, which she already explained to us."

"Anyways, what were you going on about?" said Sueko, turning back to Myoga.

Myoga sighed, obviously annoyed by the girl. But he continued, none of the less.

"Apparently there were two survivors of the village," he said. "But all I know about them is the fact that they're sisters and their family once protected the shrine. Except they seem to have gone their separate ways and no one knows of their whereabouts."

"And somehow I'm not surprised by this at all," muttered Sueko. "That's usually how it goes in fantasy-adventure books and stuff. And then eventually the readers get to figure out about them towards the end. But in the books nearly someone always dies…"

"What are you talking about?" said InuYasha.

"Never mind…" said Sueko, sighing.

"What else do you learn, Myoga?" asked InuYasha.

No one really needed to hear Myoga's answer. They could tell by his sheepish, guilty look.

"Figures," muttered InuYasha.

"Did you find anything out about Yukie, then?" asked Miroku.

"Erm…" mumbled Myoga. "Just that she went back north… to the Spirit Shrine's location…"

"Useful…" muttered Sueko, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly a crashing noise occurred. The group turned around to find a giant beetle demon ready to attack. In fact, it started to spit this strange liquid out at them. It almost hit Shippo but he jumped out of the way before it got on him. Plugging his nose, he cried, "EWW! It's a giant stink bug!"

"A beetle?" said Sueko. "Hey, Myoga, it's your relative!"

But it turned out that Myoga was no longer sitting on InuYasha's shoulder. He must have fled as soon as he had sensed danger.

InuYasha pulled out Tetsusaiga, looking merely amused by the presence of the demon. Sueko got out her sword too, and without any difficulty for once.

However, despite its weak appearance, the Wind Scar failed to defeat the demon. And the shell of it seemed to be so strong that Sango's boomerang had no affect, and InuYasha's and Sueko's sword only just bounced off the demon's back. Shippo even gathered enough guts to use his Fox Fire but that didn't do any good either.

As her friends tried to think of what they should do to defeat the stinkbug Sueko got this crazy idea. Crazy because she was pretty sure it wouldn't work. Yet she still wanted to try.

Sighing, Sueko closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. She tired empting her mind of all thought, just as Yukie suggested. Then something very strange happened. It was as if her sword had taken complete control of her body and mind. In fact, Sueko felt as though she was becoming a whole different person. Though this lasted only for a brief moment of time. But it was long enough for the sword to make Sueko hit the ground with her sword, creating this chunk of earth that formed from the swords tip to come out of the ground and fly on top of the demon, crushing it with it's large mass and weight.

When it seemed as though Sueko had returned to her normal self, she looked at her sword quizzically before noticing that everyone was looking at her. Turning a bit pink, she smiled sheepishly and said in a high-pitched voice, "Well, that sure was interesting, wasn't it?"

"What did you just do?" asked InuYasha, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't know," said Sueko, shrugging. "I was just seeing if I could do anything with my sword… apparently I can…"

"Maybe that was the power of the Earth Shrine…" said Sango, looking at the huge chunk of ground that was no longer there.

"So far you have tapped into the power of the Wind and Earth Shrine," said Miroku thoughtfully. "And created a defense shield, and killed a spider demon without knowing how… So you have yet to tap into the powers of the Fire Shrine and Water Shrine."

"Thanks, Mr. Obvious," muttered Sueko.

Miroku glared at her as InuYasha said, "So what's the Water Shrine's power? Splashing the demon with water?"

"I don't think my ancestors are _that_ lame!" said Sueko.

"Can we get a move on now?" asked Shippo, jumping up to Sueko's shoulder. "I don't feel like sticking around until another stink bug shows up."

"Why complain? You just have to rely on us to save you anyways," teased Sueko. But she picked up her book bag that she had sat down and the group went along with Shippo's words.

* * *

**REVIEWS  
**I know. Such a lame ending… I'll work on editing the next one as soon as possible, okay? I've just had a lot of homework lately so that's why it took me a while to edit this one. Anyways… let's review to reviews because I have nothing else to do… Can you believe we have 41 of them now? And there's only like… 26 chapters that I've uploaded so far… (I'm extremely behind with editing so my word document actually has like 30 chapters… BUT I'M WORKING ON IT!) so that's like two reviews per chapter… if you estimate the average, which I just did! Oh my goodness gosh… Okay, review praising…

**icygirl2:** Um… I think two new characters makes it more interesting… And we're working on that legend thing! But the thing is you'll have to wait forever on that… Sorry!

**Elf.hanyou-Yorie:** What, "elemental hanyou" not good enough for you! Okay, just kidding… God, every time I see the word elf I think of Lord of the Rings… I haven't watched the movies in ever even though they're like the best movies ever… And that reminds me, I have yet to watch the Star Wars movies! Maybe I should work on my lack of Star-Wars-ness when I go over to Ravyn's house… except we'll probably be too busy writing fan fic or watching anime… sigh Okay, you never replied to Chapter 26, I just felt like making a random comment about your username… Hope you don't mind. It's spiffy!

**FOOTNOTES  
**Okay, I needed footnotes again, so sorry for "stealing" it from you, BlackTearsOfDarkness. Not that you invented footnotes, but whatever…

1: When I edited this I realized that if I put Kagome's full name perhaps I should put Sukiyama's… So I quickly found some Japanese surname website and picked one at random… Apparently it's one of the top five common Japanese surnames in the Tokyo area… or something… the website wasn't exactly clear…

2: Onee-chan means "Big Sister" in Japanese according to my Love Hina manga #4… so if I'm wrong by this yell at the Tokyo-pop translator's, not me! I can't find it in my Japanese dictionary… (I stole it from my sister. Don't tell or no Pocky for you!) And in Love Hina it doesn't have a dash between Onee and chan but I put it there because… I felt like it… and it made more logical sense (You don't go "Shippochan"! You go "Shippo-chan") and… it looked better that way… I'm in a Sailor Moon mood. STUPID SAILOR MOON AMV!(3)

3: Can you have a footnote for a footnote? Whatever, AMV means Anime Music Video. If you haven't been to then… GO THERE!

Sayonara! And don't forget to review… 'cause you love me and if you do I'll give you free electronic Pocky?


	28. Silence of the Heart

**AUTHOR'S NOTES/DISCLAIMER  
**Oh my god… I'm so sorry it took so long to post more! My life's just been hectic hectic hectic! This took forever to edit… especially because for some reason we never made a chapter twenty-eight and just skipped to twenty-nine… so I had to figure out where to cut it off because it was so freakin' long… I'm sorry sorry sorry! I feel so guilty… Anyways, here it is, and I'll get twenty-eight up soon (gotta finish "editing" that…). And we don't own InuYasha, sorry… we just write fan fiction… so if it's not on the show chances are we own it! And for those of you who thought the fan fic was getting a bit dull… here's some action for you! And probably a whole bunch more action later on… And I just really want to update this so no reader's-reviews bit… but thanks for replying and I hope you reply again for this chapter. Anyways… here it is!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Silence of the Heart**

The sun was starting to set when a certain half tiger demon wandered out of the trees to where InuYasha and the others were standing, looking at Sueko. The girl looked just weirded out as she grabbed up her bag and started walking off causing Yoshiko to sigh. Upon hearing the sound everybody spun around to look at her and Sueko looked quite relieved.

"Good! InuYasha was just about to leave without you!" said Sueko.

Yoshiko merely shrugged, not looking at anybody in particular. In fact, she was hardly looking at much of anything at all. InuYasha rolled his eyes and turned toward her completely.

"So, what did you find out?" he asked.

"That I needed time alone," said Yoshiko. "And you know, I'm not exactly sure why I came back…"

"Because we're your friends?" suggested Sango, looking quite worried.

"By the way," said Miroku, trying to sound important. "Sueko just used another power of her sword. We think if might have been from the Earth Shrine…"

"Good for her," said Yoshiko icily. "I'm sure Yukie will be glad to hear it."

"We were kind of hoping you would be glad to hear it," said Sango, starting to look confused.

"Why should I?" snapped Yoshiko. "Yukie is the one that thinks she's all that and knows _everything_."

With that she crossed her arms and started walking away and past Sueko. The girl almost dropped her stuff in confusion, but instead turned to look at everybody else. InuYasha sighed and quickly walked after Yoshiko, starting to reach out to stop her when he paused. A dark look came to his face as Yoshiko suddenly became more alert. The others rushed over, worried.

"What?" asked Sueko.

"Kamatari," growled InuYasha, drawing his sword.

An unusual wind blew through the small clearing and spun around one spot until suddenly the demon appeared. He looked quite thoughtful as he stared down upon the small group and InuYasha's grip tightened on his sword. Before anybody could say anything InuYasha leapt forward, intent on slicing Kamatari in half. The demon raised a questioning eyebrow at InuYasha as suddenly a little girl appeared right in front of him. Yoshiko gasped as she recognized the yellow and orange dress.

"InuYasha, wait!" she shouted.

In mid-jump a look of shock passed over the half-demon's face as he quickly changed directions. Now he stood on one side of Kamatari as Yoshiko stood shaking on the other. When Rin saw the half tiger demon she reached out a hand but Kamatari grabbed the back of her dress.

"What the hell, Kamatari?" cried Yoshiko. "What do you want?"

"You know, it's amazing, Yoshiko, that you're constantly surrounded by friends but you never seem to realize it," stated Kamatari, passing his gaze over the group and then back to Yoshiko.

"That's not an answer," snapped Yoshiko. "What does Rin have to do with this?"

"Oh, the girl?" said Kamatari, as if noticing Rin for the first time. "Bait?"

"You kidnapped her and you don't even know _why?" _cried Sueko, rolling her eyes. "How pathetic can you get?"

"Sesshomaru will go after you," said InuYasha, seemingly frustrated that he couldn't attack the demon.

"Really?" said Kamatari like this had never occurred to him. "But I don't want Sesshomaru to come after me."

At this Yoshiko realized what kidnapping Rin had meant. It meant he would have had to gone through Sesshomaru first. Though surprising she knew that he would have died before letting Rin fall in the hands of some messed up demon—especially a demon like Kamatari. Fear flooded through her at this thought but Kamatari smirked at her.

"I could have killed him but where would be the fun in that?" said Kamatari, trying not to smile too much but failing greatly. "Oh, and I have to tell you: If anybody other than yourself were to come after me then I will kill the girl."

"What?" said Yoshiko, now shaking from shock. Now was not the time to be messing with her head when her emotions were already on the fritz.

"What the hell do you want with Yoshiko?" snapped InuYasha.

"Yeah! She's not the legendary 'Last One.' I am!" cried Sueko. "I thought you wanted me, not some random half tiger demon!"

"Well, this random half tiger demon knows a little too much about the legendary 'Last One,'" said Kamatari in a low voice. "Which could be quite dangerous."

"How do you know that I know anything?" hissed Yoshiko, starting to sweat.

"Let me tell you one last thing," said Kamatari thoughtfully, completely ignoring her question. "If Sesshomaru decides he's going to come after me I will kill him this time. What is it that's said… third time's the charm?"

Feeling like she was losing control completely, Yoshiko jerked out her sword and jumped forward. With a small laugh Kamatari disappeared and her sword slashed through thin air. Her hands were shaking so violently it was surprising she could even hold onto her sword. But she soon put it away and started walking away.

"Hey, wait!" shouted Sueko, starting to run after her. But Yoshiko turned around with a hard look and the girl stopped.

"You heard, if anybody else goes after him he'll kill Rin," said Yoshiko, even her voice shaking. "So I would appreciate it if you didn't come with."

"What you going to do?" asked InuYasha calmly, sheathing his own sword.

"Well, first I have to make sure Sesshomaru doesn't do something idiotic," muttered Yoshiko and walking off, leaving Sueko and the others really worried. InuYasha, though, just shrugged.

* * *

Night had fallen hours ago but still he just stood there contemplating what to do. He was sure Kamatari had a plan but what kind of plan involved Rin? Sooner or later he would have to do something but he couldn't help but think he had failed the little girl. It was his job to protect her and now she was a prisoner to someone worst than Naraku. He couldn't even bring himself to blame Jaken because he couldn't expect the imp to protect Rin any better than he could. Maybe if he had been able to talk Yoshiko into staying…

'She would have left anyways,' he thought. 'Besides, what would she have been able to do?'

Silently he cursed himself for wandering away from the real problem by thinking about her again. Even when he had been fighting Kamatari he found himself wondering about Yoshiko and where she was. This was starting to become a real problem because Kamatari was able to pick up on his thoughts slightly. It was probably the only reason he had been able to kidnap Rin at all. Sesshomaru had been stupid enough to take his mind off the fight. Surprisingly enough he hadn't been injured too badly but his armor was broken now.

He could feel Jaken watching him timidly, waiting for orders on how they were going to save Rin. This time he didn't come up with some excuse to try and rescue the girl. He openly stated he was going to get Rin away from Kamatari. Still, he was unsure if he would hesitate again and didn't want to ruin any chance of freeing Rin just because he seemed unable to take his mind off of Yoshiko. Plus he couldn't even figure out _why_ he kept thinking about the half-demon, of all people. He never thought of his brother if he couldn't help it—or Emiko—out of the blue. And still…

"Sesshomaru?" came a timid voice behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder he saw her standing there, one hand on a tree and the other in a fist. He couldn't decide if he was annoyed to see her or relieved. But either way he would have to figure out if it was going to get in the way of saving Rin. Her eyes moved over him, taking in the scratches and broken armor. He turned away completely not sure why he was doing so.

"What happened?" Yoshiko asked, her voice still a little low.

"Rin has been—" started Sesshomaru. But she cut him off.

"I know," she said. Upon a questioning glance from Sesshomaru she elaborated. "Kamatari came to me."

Surprise jumped to Sesshomaru's face and he turned away again. He wasn't sure if he found it odd that Kamatari had gone to her but more of the fact that he didn't know why. There was the obvious reason but Naraku had never been obvious so neither could Kamatari. So was he worried? Worried that all of this had something to do with Yoshiko and if he wasn't careful she might get hurt?

"Are you hurt?" asked Yoshiko, a bit louder than before.

"Ha!" laughed Jaken. "As if anybody could injure—"

"Jaken," growled Sesshomaru. "Stay out of it."

"Uh… Yes, Lord Sesshomaru…" said Jaken worriedly, walking off a fair distance.

There was a moment of silence as Yoshiko gauged how far away the imp was going. Then she sighed and leaned against a tree.

"You're going to go after him, aren't you?" she said icily. "Kamatari, I mean…"

"What would you expect me to do?" asked Sesshomaru, not really answering the question. It was a bad habit of his, especially when it came to Rin and… well, Yoshiko.

Yoshiko's eyes narrowed at that and she put her hands on her hips, replying, "If you do he'll kill Rin."

"That's not the point," said Sesshomaru, though he didn't know whom he was trying to fool. Protecting Rin from any harm was the whole point.

"Well, it might not be to you but it is to me!" snapped Yoshiko. "I'm not about to lose anybody over your stupidity!"

Amazingly he didn't really care about the insult. She could call him anything and he wouldn't take it personally. But he did find it a bit odd that she didn't just say Rin. It was as if she expected somebody else to get hurt over his actions.

"But you'll go after him?" said Sesshomaru, stating it as a question even though it wasn't.

"That's none of your business," said Yoshiko. "He won't hurt Rin if I go."

"Why is that?" growled Sesshomaru, his fears that all of this was just for Yoshiko realized.

"How the hell would I know?" cried Yoshiko. "But I think it's one good damn reason for you not to go!"

"There's still the problem that _you'll_ go," said Sesshomaru. "And I doubt that you have fought Kamatari…"

"No, I haven't. But you have, twice now, and got lucky enough that he decided he wasn't in the mood to kill you," hissed Yoshiko. "Though if you go after him this time he'll kill Rin and he won't hesitate to kill you either! AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE!"

Once again Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder but this time he wasn't at all surprised. Anybody would have expected him to but all he could think was that Yoshiko was acting odd. A small sad smile crossed over his face as he turned away again. Now Yoshiko was shaking with fury, her hands in fists at her side and her eyes narrowed.

"You're not listening!" she snapped. "At least turn around and pretend like you care about what I've got to say!"

Obligingly Sesshomaru turned around to look at her, his eyes seeming to soften as he did so. Upon doing so surprise crossed over Yoshiko's face but soon passed for a serious look. She walked closer to him and hardly had to raise her head to look up into his hazel eyes. It was in that moment that Emiko came to his mind and suddenly he realized that everything she had said was correct. He wasn't exactly sure why he thought about it right then, but because of it he got a strange idea.

Putting his arm around Yoshiko's waist he brought her in closer and put his lips on hers. He was a little surprised himself at what he was doing. But after a while it felt quite natural and he wondered why he hadn't done it before. Slightly thanking Emiko he realized that for the longest time he had loved Yoshiko. Now if only he could tell her. If only he could get the words out of his mouth. Just as he was thinking this Yoshiko pulled away, a look on her face that tore Sesshomaru up inside. She almost looked… frightened? But of what? And why?

* * *

At first she was just surprised when he pulled her in for the kiss. But after awhile Yoshiko found herself leaning into, completely enjoying it. Still she found it odd that of all people to show any feelings it would be Sesshomaru. Then it hit her what it meant. Yet again there was another guy in her life that might possibly love her and she would have to live with that. Pulling away she looked up at Sesshomaru, completely horrified by the soft expression on his face. Around her she felt the world fall apart as a part of her longed to stay here with him forever.

But she still had to save Rin. And she wasn't even sure if she would come back alive. Kamatari had made a point that as long as she showed up to fight him alone he would let the girl go. So it didn't matter what happened to her. In fact, she really didn't care. Despite that there was Sesshomaru, his face quickly changing to worry as Yoshiko put her hands on his chest to keep a fair distance between them. She felt herself starting to shake and Sesshomaru putting his hand in her hair was not helping.

"Yoshiko?" whispered Sesshomaru.

She gasped. As far as she knew he had never said her name and if he was going to start now… Well, it could mean many things. But despite what the reasons were she knew that either way it would shatter her resolve not to get attached. Gritting her teeth, she looked down so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"No…" she muttered, hardly audible.

"Please, listen," said Sesshomaru a little louder.

"Don't!" cried Yoshiko, clenching her hands into fists. "I don't want to hear it!"

With that she wrenched out of Sesshomaru's grasp and ran off, feeling branches clawing at her face and legs but not really caring. All she wanted to do was put as much distance between her and Sesshomaru as possible. At first she didn't think about anything in particular. But after a while Yoshiko realized how stupid she was acting and stopped, clinging to a tree to try and stop the tears. Despite that she knew she wouldn't let him say it, no matter what. She didn't know how well she would be able to handle it. And besides, last time Raoul had said it he had died a few days later. She had never gotten a chance and that was because she wasn't all too sure _how_ she felt. Finally, taking a deep breath, Yoshiko walked off to find Kamatari.

* * *

At first he was just surprised when she ran off, stumbling slightly, tears close to the surface. Then he was worried that she would get hurt but wasn't sure if it would be smart to go after her. Silently he cursed himself for… whatever it was that had hurt her so much. He tried to figure it out but nothing Emiko had said seemed to come to his head. Except for the fact that supposedly Yoshiko had been through some sort of heartache before. But that wasn't very helpful. If he ever got a chance Sesshomaru resolved to sit down and talk to Yoshiko. He had enough of learning everything about her from her own aunt.

"Ahhhhh…" said a familiar voice. "Did you two get into a fight?"

Spinning rapidly he saw Emiko step out of the trees, holding Rin in her arms. A cocky smile was on her face as she set the girl down next to a tree and walked closer to Sesshomaru. At first he found it odd that Emiko would have been able to get anywhere near Kamatari to rescue Rin. Then he realized she was wearing a very revealing outfit, one that hardly covered anything. This could not be Emiko, who wore large clothing with five or six layers. Despite her slutty nature he doubted she would ever wear anything so very revealing. Besides, lately the tiger demon had been showing her regular eye color of a light green. This woman had bright blue eyes.

"Leave now before I kill you," snapped Sesshomaru, recognizing the blue eyes as the ones the fake Yoshiko had had. To back up his threat he put his hand on his sword hilt.

"You're so cruel!" said the woman in shock, putting her hands to her cheeks. "All I wanted to do was talk!"

"Well, I'm not exactly in the mood to talk," growled Sesshomaru, realizing just then that he should go after Yoshiko. If she was going to face Kamatari…

"But I was ordered to talk to you," sighed the woman. "Besides, do you really think Yoshiko wants to be followed right now?"

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as the woman who looked like Emiko walked closer, a grin spreading over her face. She cocked her head to the side as if gauging his anger and then pursed her lips. As she did this Sesshomaru tried to decide the best way to dispose of her and then go after Yoshiko. But if Kamatari had sent her… most likely he would know as soon as the woman was dead. If this was true there was no telling how many other minions he would send. In this time he could have captured Yoshiko or worse, killed her.

"Why are you so mad at me?" whined the woman. "Do you not trust me just because of that time I was Yoshiko?"

Obviously she wasn't trying to hide the fact that she was this shape changer that he had met before. But maybe Yoshiko had been wrong and it really was Emiko who had tricked them before. No… this woman was acting nothing like the tiger demon. Even he could tell that and he hardly knew Emiko. Before he could decide whether to draw his sword or hit her a light shone in the woman's eyes as if she got an idea.

"I know, you're more attracted to Yoshiko!" she cried, a light going from her feet to her head. The only real change was that the blue eyes turned bright green for a few seconds and the black hair shortened slightly and became orange. Then the eyes turned blue again and the woman looked a little annoyed for a minute. "Well, how's that?"

"You're wasting your time," growled Sesshomaru, turning to walk away.

"But…" said the woman, grabbing his arm and pressing her body against his. "Don't you think I look hot like this?"

Sesshomaru's eyes flashed dangerously and he threw the woman away who went flying and landing on her butt. She grimaced and rubbed her sore rear then frowned up at a fuming Sesshomaru. Realizing that she had pissed him off an evil smile played with the ends of her mouth. Then she pretended to be hurt by this. She crossed her arms, not trying to get off the ground.

"I get it, you're actually in _love_ with Yoshiko!" cried the woman. "But how do you know I'm not the real thing and the one you just kissed was the fake?"

He felt something clench over his heart at somebody else uttering the words when he had yet to say them. He bawled his hand up in a fist in an attempt to try and calm down. But still the woman looked up at him, blinking as if hurt emotionally. Finally the woman sighed and got to her feet, brushing off.

"This isn't working!" pouted the woman. "Just like with that half-demon mutt and that wretched girl!"

Stomping her foot, a light started from her feet and up. As it did so sandals appeared on her feet, a bluish skirt kimono covered her legs, her torso was covered by the top of the kimono and her hair turned a silky black. This, Sesshomaru guessed to be, was the woman's true form. The woman turned half away from him, her arms crossed and her bottom lip jutting out in a baby way. Sesshomaru was starting to get annoyed and knew she was only stalling for time.

"What does InuYasha have to do with this?" snapped Sesshomaru.

"Well, for one, he has stones that Kamatari wants and he wanted _me_ to get them!" cried the woman, her voice getting higher and higher. "So I pretended to be this girl he supposedly liked but nooo! He had to be smart and asked stupid damn questions that I didn't know the answer to. And so to shut him the hell up I kissed him. But nooo! That strange assed girl had to show up and ruin it. AND THEN HE WALKED OFF, LEAVING ME ALONE!"

By this time this woman just all around annoyed Sesshomaru. To shut her up he punched her, completely knocking her out. Rolling his eyes, he picked her up and carried her off. Then unceremoniously he dropped her in a bush where she lay there moaning for a minute. When she opened an eye to glare up at Sesshomaru he walked off. Hopefully Jaken would realize he was gone and look after Rin. In the meantime he would have to see if maybe, just maybe, Yoshiko hadn't gone after Kamatari.

* * *

She was starting to wonder if she was ever going to run into Kamatari. Of course, she knew it was a bad idea to let him come up to her, probably surprising her, but it wasn't like she knew where he was. Plus she just really didn't care anymore, letting herself go numb inside. This was almost starting to turn into a suicidal mission. She wondered what Sueko would say but she couldn't seem to bring the girl's face to her mind. In fact, she couldn't really think of much of anything. Not even her brother.

Just as she was starting to get worried Yoshiko wandered out into a clearing and standing on a slight rise was Kamatari. He smirked at the half tiger demon and a sword quickly jumped into his hand. Before she could do anything he suddenly appeared before her, slashing out and cutting her side. Crying out, Yoshiko grabbed her side and stumbled backwards. When she hit a tree she quickly ducked out of the way of another blow. She came around behind Kamatari and moved her hand to her sword hilt.

Before she could draw it the demon spun around and stabbed Yoshiko's right shoulder. Growling angrily, Yoshiko jumped into the branches of a trees to try and stall for time. Taking deep breaths, she quickly drew her sword and jumped backwards out of the tree. As soon as her feet hit the ground she had to raise her weapon to block an attack. Already she was starting to pant and she had hardly started fighting. This was ridiculous! She was going to die like her brother and father. Without anybody around to really know how and why. And right then that wasn't what she wanted.

'What am I waiting for, though?' she reprimanded herself. 'Sesshomaru to show up? Like that's going to happen.'

Resolving herself for her lonely fate she pushed Kamatari away and rushed around him so as not to have the trees to her back. But when she turned around he wasn't there anymore. Worried, she glanced around until an arm wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her side. This would have been quite useless to stop her if the arm hadn't soon been followed by a blade at her neck. She heard Kamatari laugh sneeringly into her ear as she realized that she _was_ going to die.

'At least I'll be able to see my brother,' she thought, going limp in Kamatari's grasp and dropping her sword.

* * *

He could tell everybody was worried about Yoshiko but he couldn't get why he was pacing. InuYasha crossed his arms on his tenth trip over the same patch of earth as Sueko watched him. Finally she lost her patience and jumped to her feet. Before she could yell at him or Sango could calm the girl down a familiar scent came to his sensitive nose. Sighing, he suddenly realized that _this_ was what he had been waiting for. Though how he knew Sesshomaru would show up, he had no idea. Sighing again, he turned toward his older brother.

"What the hell do you want?" snapped Sueko, walking to stand next to InuYasha. "Because Yoshiko isn't here, she went to go talk to _you_!"

"I know. She came," said Sesshomaru. Something in the demon's eyes made InuYasha feel something close to pity for him. "I was hoping she had come back here."

"Why would she do that?" asked Sango, still sitting on the porch of the hut. "If anything she would have gone after Kamatari to get Rin."

Almost sadly Sesshomaru looked away, making InuYasha blink in confusion. Then he understood. Sesshomaru had known Yoshiko had gone after Kamatari but didn't want to believe it. Because then he would have to realize that most likely she was going to die. But then that would have to mean that Sesshomaru actually cared. Probably more than just cared. Which would also mean InuYasha would have to realize his brother wasn't as heartless as he seemed.

"So, what you going to do about it?" sighed InuYasha, dropping his arms to his side. "It seems kind of stupid to be standing around here while she's off fighting Kamatari alone."

Sesshomaru glanced at him and then practically ran off. Sueko blinked after him and then turned toward InuYasha who shook his head and then followed his brother. He was pretty far behind but he was following the same scent trail as Sesshomaru. Most likely they would come out at the same place. Then again, he wasn't exactly sure why he _was_ following Sesshomaru. It was almost as if he was worried about how his brother might react if Yoshiko was killed.

'If it was me I would probably freak out,' thought InuYasha. 'Kind of like when Kagome died…'

But unlike InuYasha, Sesshomaru had the Tensaiga. A sword that could bring people back from the dead if he cared at all about the mortal. As far as he knew Sesshomaru had used it once before to bring the little girl, Rin, back from the dead. If what he thought was true then if Yoshiko died his brother should be able to bring her back. And yet he had a feeling Sesshomaru would need reminding of this fact.

* * *

A wind went through the quiet clearing as Sesshomaru stepped out of the trees and looked upon Kamatari holding Yoshiko captive. Fear and anger coursed through him but he was able to keep a calm face as he slowly walked closer. When Kamatari tightened his grip on the half-demon Sesshomaru stopped. A smile was crossing across Kamatari's face and Sesshomaru could almost hear the laugh that was threatening to come up. But the strangest thing was the resolved look on Yoshiko's face as she looked down upon Sesshomaru with almost glazed eyes.

"Lord Sesshomaru, so glad you could join us," said Kamatari, a hint of a laugh on his voice. "You're just in time for the grand finale."

"Let her go," growled Sesshomaru. "She's not a part of this."

"But you see, she's all about _this_!" laughed Kamatari. "If my quarrel was with you I would never have gone to her. Or I might have just kidnapped her instead of the little girl."

Sesshomaru just glared at the demon, his eyes narrowing. Kamatari raised his eyebrows questioningly and then started laughing again. The sound rang in Sesshomaru's ears, causing his blood to boil. When Kamatari finally calmed down he stared down upon Sesshomaru with an almost sad smile on his face.

"What's a matter? As far as I know you wouldn't have hesitated to kill me, no matter who was in the way," said Kamatari. "What's so different this time? Could it be that you actually _care_ for this half-demon?"

Once again Sesshomaru found it angering that another could see what he had only just realized. Something he had yet to say out loud. But what made it even more painful was that there seemed to be no change on Yoshiko's face. She just stared down at him, as if trying to say something. In this moment he looked into her eyes to try and find out what it was. But he never got a chance for in that moment Kamatari grabbed Yoshiko's arm and held her out.

"Here, Lord Sesshomaru, I do believe this belongs to you," said Kamatari, pushing the half-demon out.

As he did so it seemed time slowed down and Sesshomaru was watching as Yoshiko stumbled down the hill. Then there was a flash of red as Kamatari stabbed Yoshiko in the chest. Pain spread over her face as she started to fall forward and Sesshomaru caught her. Slowly he lowered her to the ground as she grimaced in pain. He looked up to glare at Kamatari but the demon just shrugged, turned away and disappeared. He looked back down to see Yoshiko smiling at him sadly.

"Tell Rin good-bye for me," she said in little more than a whisper.

"You're giving up?" growled Sesshomaru, as the woman's eyes closed and her breathing stopped.

Laying her down on the grass he got to his feet, feeling numb all over. He didn't know exactly how he should feel and as if looking for an answer he looked over at his brother, just realizing he was there. InuYasha was looking down at Yoshiko but the look in his eyes made Sesshomaru realize he wasn't really seeing her. He was remembering something else—or someone else. Then a hardened expression came over InuYasha as he looked up at Sesshomaru.

"You're just a lucky bastard," he growled.

"Excuse me?" said Sesshomaru, raising his eyebrows.

"With the Tensaiga you don't have to lose anybody," snapped InuYasha. "And all I've gone is a rusty old blade!"

"I may not be able to lose anybody to death," said Sesshomaru quietly, looking down at Yoshiko. "But there are other ways to lose a person."

He thought back to Yoshiko pulling out of his grasp after the kiss. Then he turned back to his brother.

"It should not have come down to this," he added. "There should have been no reason to use the Tensaiga."

"Yeah, well," said InuYasha, shaking. "WHERE WAS THE TENSAIGA WHEN KAGOME DIED?"

Sesshomaru couldn't quite recall who this Kagome was but thought that she was probably that girl wearing the green outfit. Then he realized that was probably the person InuYasha had been seeing, looking down upon Yoshiko. But he really didn't care and turned away. Drawing the Tensaiga, he suddenly was able to see the minions of the underworld. With two sweeps over Yoshiko's body he was able to destroy them and, hopefully, bring her back. He put the sword away and got down on his knees. Before he could do much of anything he could suddenly hear Yoshiko's heartbeat and her eyes opened.

* * *

It hadn't been his point to blame Sesshomaru for Kagome's death. In fact, he hadn't even planned on bringing her up. But seeing Yoshiko's pale, bleeding form the first thing that had come to his mind had been Kagome. He had thought that he had been over it. And maybe he was. It could have just been a one-time thing and sooner or later it would go away. Besides, he didn't really love Kagome anymore. And she apparently didn't want him to.

When Yoshiko's eyes opened, almost immediately she rolled over and got to her feet. She walked away from Sesshomaru a small distance, standing on the small hill that Kamatari had been on moments before. Her arms were wrapped around her as if she was cold. Something about her seemed quite familiar to InuYasha but he couldn't put his finger on what. When nobody said anything, least off all Sesshomaru—in fact he didn't even move—InuYasha decided to speak up.

"You okay?" he asked Yoshiko.

"I'm alive," she replied icily. Something in the way she said it annoyed InuYasha.

Rolling his eyes, he said, "You know, Sesshomaru just brought you back to life. Least you can do is be grateful!"

"What if I didn't want to be brought back?" said Yoshiko, shaking and putting her arms at her side, her hands in fists. "What do I have to live for, anyways?"

Quickly InuYasha glanced at Sesshomaru but his face was completely impassive. It was almost like he didn't care what she had to say or… he had known it was coming. But how could he have? Had there been something about Yoshiko that they had missed as her friends? Then he remembered the night of the half moon when she had staid up writing. He had noticed that she was completely pale. And then she came back looking worse than when she left. Could it be that she had wanted to die from the begging? Had she been contemplating this suicide even then? How come she had never said anything?

"Well, your friends for one thing," said InuYasha quickly. Her manner still reminded him of someone but he really couldn't think of whom. It was driving him crazy.

"Oh?" said Yoshiko, dipping her head down to hide her eyes. Then she spun around, her eyes blazing with an inner fire. "What gave you the right to bring me back?" she shouted, glaring down at Sesshomaru.

It was in that moment that InuYasha realized she was acting almost exactly like Kikyo when she had been brought back to life. Still, Kikyo's raving had made sense even if it had hurt InuYasha. Yoshiko screaming and blaming Sesshomaru made little to no sense. All he had done was practically heal her wounds and call back her soul because… well, he couldn't live without her? InuYasha turned to his brother and saw Sesshomaru looking down at the ground, his face almost completely hidden.

"What are you berating him about?" snapped InuYasha, almost feeling sorry for the demon. "If your places had been switched, what would you have done?"

For a split second it almost looked as if Yoshiko was about to change her tune, but then she turned on InuYasha, glaring. Under the full force of her fury InuYasha took a half step backwards. Before either half-demons could say anything, Sesshomaru got to his feet. Both Yoshiko and InuYasha glanced at him as he looked up at her slowly.

"Yoshiko—" he started in a low voice.

Then Yoshiko's face hardened as she put her hands to her ears.

"Don't say it!" she cried, confusing InuYasha.

A sad look crossed Sesshomaru's face but he didn't say anything. Instead he turned and started walking away. Feeling that things were going all wrong, InuYasha called after him.

"Where are you going?" he called.

Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder at InuYasha.

"She doesn't need to be anywhere she doesn't want to," he said quietly, before leaving completely.

InuYasha stared after him in shock before rounding on Yoshiko who looked like she really didn't care. Except for the fact that her eyes didn't wander from the place that Sesshomaru had disappeared into. Putting his hands on his hips, InuYasha sighed.

"Well?" he snapped.

"What?" said Yoshiko quietly.

"Are you going to go after him or not?" cried InuYasha.

"Why should I?" asked Yoshiko quite seriously.

"Because… because…" stuttered InuYasha, trying to think of a perfectly good reason that even Yoshiko couldn't argue with.

"It was his choice," sighed Yoshiko, turning and walking away.

"You didn't leave him much of choice!" shouted InuYasha. "And he may very well have—"

"Shut up!" shouted Yoshiko. "Just shut up!"

"What the hell?" cried InuYasha. "You won't even let _me_ say it, let alone him!"

"Because if I don't hear it I become attached and lose him," muttered Yoshiko. "Like last time…"

"That's some messed up logic," reprimanded InuYasha.

"Can we just drop it, please?" pleaded Yoshiko, looking at him as if about to cry.

Sighing, InuYasha shrugged and walked off with Yoshiko to where the others were waiting.

* * *

"So, did you save Rin?" asked Sueko as Yoshiko walked out of the trees and toward the hut.

She didn't answer but just walked right into the hut, letting the flap flutter in the wind slightly. Sighing, she sat down in a dark corner and tried to think everything over. But the only thing she could think of was Sesshomaru. Where was he now? Had he forgotten about her completely? And what had he told Rin? Maybe he was pretending she was dead. That's what she hoped anyways. But at the same time it hurt. Just as she was lying down to try and get some sleep, the conversation outside came to her sensitive ears.

"What happened?" Sango was saying somewhere near the doorway.

"I think it would probably be best if we didn't disturb her for now," sighed InuYasha, and Yoshiko heard someone move away from the hut.

"Well?" said Miroku. "Was she able to kill Kamatari?"

"No," said InuYasha.

"Didn't expect her to," said Miroku. "Just wondering."

"No, she decided that the whole point of this was to get herself killed," said InuYasha moodily.

"What?" cried Sueko. "Is she okay? Did she get hurt?"

"Yeah, she actually got herself killed!" said InuYasha.

"Huh? How does that work?" said Sueko in confusion. "She looked alive when she walked over here, unless she's a ghost."

"She's not a ghost," said InuYasha impatiently. "Sesshomaru brought her back with the Tensaiga."

"But that would mean—" started Miroku.

"Yeah," sighed InuYasha. "But she almost refuses to listen. She practically bit his head off when he tried to say it."

"I don't get it," said Shippo.

"You're young," said Sango in the nicest way she could.

During all of this Yoshiko had moved from her back to her side, facing the wall. She tried to shut the voices out but couldn't seem to fall asleep or ignore them. Besides, they were talking about her…

"But what was even more frustrating was that she acted almost exactly like Kikyo with her pity party about not wanting to come back and all that crap," growled InuYasha. "So I don't blame Sesshomaru when he just walked away."

"And she just let him?" said Sango in horror.

"Yup, the idiot," said InuYasha. "Now she may never get a second chance. I'm not sure if I would anyways."

"You sure gave Kikyo more than enough chances," said Shippo in an accusing way.

"Well, she's not Kikyo," said InuYasha. "And besides, if you haven't noticed, I've changed since then!"

"You have?" joked Sango. "Could have fooled us!"

"I believe Sesshomaru may have changed more than you," laughed Miroku. "Do you think that maybe it was Yoshiko that changed him?"

By this time tears had come to her eyes as she tried desperately to block them out. But everything they said seemed to echo in her head ten times louder than it actually was. Slowly she sat back up and moved to the doorway of the hut. But InuYasha kept talking, she put her back to the wall to keep out of sight.

"I don't know. She could have but I don't see how," said InuYasha. "Not like she has changed that much herself."

"She has been through quite a lot," pointed out Sango in a pitying way.

"Yeah well… I wish she would let go of whoever hurt her so much in the past that she seemed unable to except Sesshomaru as part of her life," said InuYasha. "I of all people know it's hard but… she isn't even giving it a try!"

"Who are you to lecture me?" snapped Yoshiko, now standing in the doorway of the hut.

"You were listening?" cried Sueko.

"Figured as much…" muttered InuYasha in a knowing way.

"You have no idea what I've been through!" shouted Yoshiko.

"How can we if you never talk about it?" InuYasha yelled back, getting to his feet. "All I really see is a pathetic girl that just wants everybody to feel sorry for her so she doesn't feel guilty about holding onto some depressing past she had!"

"I'm tired…" muttered Yoshiko, looking at her feet and starting to cry. "I'm tried of what I am and everything else about my life. I'm not a demon but everybody acts and thinks that I am. I'm not a human but I want to be more than anything! All the people that ever acted like I was are long dead. And nobody seems to understand that I'm not holding onto my past by trying desperately to forget it! NOW TELL ME IF I'M BEING PATHETIC!"

"We can't read you mind," said InuYasha simply, lying down as if to go to sleep. "All you have to do is come out and say what you're thinking and at least one of us will listen. But I guess you have a problem with listening yourself."

"What do you want from me?" asked Yoshiko in a shaking voice.

"The question is what are you denying yourself that _you_ want more than anything," said InuYasha. "Now it's late—or early—and I suggest you get some rest. Night!"

* * *

It was the one horrible thing about spring that Yoshiko just right out despised: it never seemed to stop raining. Sure, she could stand some water, a slight drizzle. She could even take a bath in the river. But when it started raining like this she preferred _not_ to be standing out in the rain. Sure, it wasn't raining as much as when Sueko and InuYasha "got back together" but it was still more than she would like. Surprisingly, this time around she didn't have to complain about the rain. Nobody made her get up and leave in the pouring rain. They just sat off talking in their own little corner until she got so annoyed she walked out onto the porch.

She sat there watching the rainfall for a whole half an hour before somebody came out to check on her. It kind of annoyed her how nice they were trying to be. In fact, she would have preferred somebody to come to see her right away or never come out. But Sueko had decided to wait a little while. Actually, InuYasha had probably told her to give her some space. When the girl saw that Yoshiko was just sitting on the porch Sueko decided to sit down next to her. It was a little more than she expected but it still annoyed her. Most likely Sueko would want to talk and she wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to talk and if she did, what about.

"What's so amazing that you'd rather sit in the cold watching it then sitting inside listening to us?" teased Sueko. Yoshiko just rolled her eyes. "Fine, Miss Stingy! Don't laugh at a good joke."

"I'm not in the mood," sighed Yoshiko, leaning her head onto her knees. "What does InuYasha want this time?"

"Can't I just come out to talk to my friend?" cried Sueko. "Sheesh, what makes you think InuYasha sent me?"

"Because he seems to enjoy butting into my life," muttered Yoshiko.

"Well, you butt into his life!" said Sueko. "At least, that's what Sango says, anyways. And of course you butt into her life as well!"

"Your point?" said Yoshiko, looking away from Sueko while wishing she would just go away.

"Look, we're all worried about you," said Sueko, suddenly very serious. "You haven't said much of anything, haven't eaten at all and you're hardly slept! Okay, this is worse than when you first met Sesshomaru!"

Tears threatened to come forth at this comment as Yoshiko tried desperately to think of anything but Sesshomaru. But at what Sueko had said she recalled waking up and seeing Rin sitting over her, singing. The little girl had been so kind to her, making her feel like she was part of their strange little group. She had even hinted to Yoshiko being her mother figure. Shaking her head slightly, she looked up to look at Sueko.

"What's so horrible about your life that you would want to die?" asked Sueko in little more than a whisper.

Yoshiko's thoughts wandered back to her encounter with Koga and the flowers. It had been a sweet gesture, she realized that now, but what good would flowers do to fix her life? Nothing much could! Thirteen years ago she lost her stepmother and she got into a big fight with her father. Twelve years ago her father died and she had to leave her brother. Eight years ago she burned a village just to killed a freakin' demon. Six years ago she met Raoul and almost thought she had found her happy ending. A year later he died and she was left alone again. Plus not to mention the village she burned, the time she spent with the tiger demons and now this! There was no way she was ever going to live the life she wanted to.

She tried to think of a way to best explain it but the only thing she could think of that Sueko might actually understand was Godric and Raoul. So slowly and timidly she began to explain how much she had loved her brother. How it seemed he could just take away her bad dreams. Then suddenly his mother died and she was forced to be strong for him. But for some reason he thought it was best for her to leave so she did, hoping it would help him. After a while, when she had given up hope of anything and everything she had stumbled across a village that didn't mistake her as a demon.

In fact, everybody was fascinated with her and practically begged her to stay with them—so she stayed a night. Then she found herself staying another day… then a week. Finally months were going by and she was almost living in this village. And during her very long stay she had met a kind farmer boy who enjoyed picking her flowers. She was starting to forget all about her old village and starting to think of that as home. But not too long after Raoul had proposed he had been killed. Devastated, Yoshiko had wandered off feeling like an empty shell. Then it wasn't too long after that she heard about Sueko and decided to check it out.

Upon finishing Sueko leaned over and gave her a big hug around the neck but this reminded Yoshiko too much of Rin so she stood up. Blinking, the girl looked up at her almost in a hurting way. But when Yoshiko didn't fall for it, Sueko sighed and crossed her arms.

"Look, are you going to be all depressed just because your boyfriend died?" said Sueko exasperatedly. "Okay, so he was a little more than a boyfriend… whatever!"

"It's more than just her… er… boyfriend," said Sango, stepping out of the hut. At this Yoshiko cried out in annoyance.

"Is everybody just going to just watch me until I'm better?" she snapped.

"Well, I was getting annoyed at Miroku glancing at my butt so I decided to step out," shrugged Sango. "I heard that you were talking so I waited until you were done."

"I get no privacy…" muttered Yoshiko. "Everybody thinks it's okay to make my life their business."

"Anyways," said Sango, changing the subject probably because this would turn into a large argument. "I personally think it's the whole 'she's had people she should be protecting, her brother, Raoul, but she feels like she's failed.'"

"Don't assume anything," snapped Yoshiko.

"I'm not, I'm giving my deduction," said Sango. "But if that's not it, why don't you tell us what it is!"

"I just miss them… My father, my brother… Raoul," said Yoshiko, looking down at her feet and trying desperately not to cry again. "It's as simple as that. I just want to see them all again."

"So you're going to kill yourself to see them?" said Sueko in horror. "Oh, that's real smart!"

"People do it," said Sango. "I almost did it myself but InuYasha stopped me from killing Kohaku."

"Wow, InuYasha's sweeter than I thought!" said Sueko almost dreamily.

"Oh yeah, it's sweet to stop people from doing what they want," muttered Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. "Sounds like he's been butting into people's lives more than me!"

"Well, maybe he's been butting into people's lives because he actually _cares_ about them and doesn't want them to _kill_ themselves!" said Sueko airily.

Sighing, Yoshiko walked off the porch into the pouring rain and off into the night. After a while she sort of got annoyed of being wet but didn't think about turning around and going back to the hut. A thought came to her mind that if she staid out too long she would catch a cold. But a second later she really didn't care.

'What are you going to try and get really sick and die?' thought Yoshiko bitterly.

Now that would be really pathetic. But no, she didn't really feel like she wanted to die anymore. It was too depressing a thought. Then what was it that she wanted to so badly it hurt? Maybe… Maybe she just wanted to be with Sesshomaru. She had thought she didn't care that he had just walked away but now she knew otherwise. If he disappeared from her life completely then she would never get to see Rin again. She would never have anywhere to go when being with InuYasha and the others were boring. No place that she could maybe feel like it was home. And… and what? Couldn't she just admit that she missed him and might even…

During this time tears had come unbidden to her eyes and were streaming down her cheeks. But she hardly noticed or cared. Instead she walked, mulling over all her thoughts and memories of being with Sesshomaru. She didn't just miss him. It wouldn't hurt so much if she simply missed him. She missed Sueko whenever she went home but she didn't miss Sesshomaru. But there seemed no possible word to explain how she felt. All she did know that part of it was over the fact that she practically forced him to go. By refusing to listen, blaming him for doing something she probably would have done herself and running away after the kiss. If there was one good way to push a guy away that would be the best. Probably the only good advice she could give anybody was how best to push people away.

But she didn't want Sesshomaru to leave. She didn't want to push him away. And for the first time she didn't really like the fact that he was hanging around with her aunt! Or it bothered her that her aunt was hanging around with him. Either way it suddenly bothered her. Rheda could be kind in her own way. She was sure to make Rin completely adore her! So where would that put Yoshiko? Not that she ever had much of a place before. But Rheda would probably have fun making it so that they wouldn't miss her in the least. All she wanted though was to see Sesshomaru again—and Rin of course. If Rheda was going to take that away from her then she was more than just cruel, she was evil!

Although Rheda had never taken anything away from her, and this she most definitely didn't. No, Yoshiko had brought this upon herself. She had been stupid and snapped at the guy who cared about her well being. He hadn't wanted her to die. Even before she actually went off to fight Kamatari he had practically said it. There was no possible way he was going to let her face Kamatari. In fact… she had said something similar herself. Then there was the fact that he had brought her back to life. From what she heard the Tensaiga could only be used if you actually cared. That along with the kiss… there was no denying that Sesshomaru probably loved her.

That exactly, though, was what scared her so much. Because it meant that he would want to know if she loved him back. Then she would have to actually think about it. Was it really love she was feeling or did just _want_ to love him? Besides guys that love girls normally do anything for them, even get themselves killed. How could Yoshiko live if Sesshomaru died for her? Feeling lonely and frustrated, Yoshiko suddenly got an urge to scream. There was so many things she wanted to say but couldn't. In such a short time her life had been wonderful then she ran away. And the only person she had to blame was herself. At that the tears started coming faster. Sadly, Yoshiko turned her face up to the sky, staring up at the few stars poking out of the clouds.

"I'm sorry, okay? I MADE A MISTAKE, DAMN IT! Just…" she cried, then looked down at the ground. "Please come back. Don't leave me now…"


	29. Akemi's Opposite

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Sorry for the long wait. It's the end of school and I've been quite busy and stressed… I got this edited yesterday but forgot to post it. But here it is! Expect more/quicker updates after the 21st with Ravyn gets out of school (I get out on the 16th, ha ha!). And I can't think of much to say… except it gets really dramatic here… And two new characters show up… Whatever, read and reply and enjoy and have a good day!

**DISCLAIMER  
**I don't own InuYasha! Ohmigod! Why can't you people get it through your heads! Anything not on the show/manga WE own!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Akemi's Opposite**

The rain was really starting to irritate her nose when Yoshiko reached the hut. Before she had hardly come to the porch when the flap opened. Standing in the doorway was a very surprised looking InuYasha. Then his confusion turned into relief as Yoshiko looked up at him.

"I was just about to come looking for you," said InuYasha. "We were starting to worry you weren't coming back."

"You… were worried about me?" choked Yoshiko.

Suddenly she burst out crying and ran forward to bury her head on InuYasha's shoulder. After a minute he got over his shock and patted Yoshiko's back awkwardly. Soon Sango walked out and draped a towel over the half tiger demon's shoulder. When she did, Yoshiko looked up, her eyes red from crying, and hugged InuYasha round the neck.

"Um… I thought you liked Sesshomaru," joked InuYasha.

At that Yoshiko gave a small laugh, pulled away and wiped away a few stray tears. Then InuYasha crossed his arms and stared intently at her, while behind him Sueko, Miroku and Shippo craning to get a look at Yoshiko. Finally InuYasha sighed.

"So, what are you going to do?" he asked.

"What?" said Yoshiko in confusion.

"Well, first we're going to get her inside," said Sango, pushing Yoshiko inside gently.

Once inside Yoshiko sat down opposite Miroku and Sueko. As Sango handed her a cup of tear InuYasha sat down next to her. After she finished half of her tea, InuYasha turned to face her.

"What are you going to do?" he asked again. "You going to forget about him, try to find him or wait around and see what happens?"

"There isn't much I can do," sighed Yoshiko, putting down her half empty cup. "I've made the world's biggest mistake already!"

"At least you'll admit it," said Sango. "Couldn't say the same about InuYasha…"

"What? What I do?" cried InuYasha.

"Nothing recently," muttered Sango.

"Anyways!" said Sueko loudly. "I thought we were talking about Yoshiko!"

"What do you want?" Miroku said suddenly. "What is it you really want, Yoshiko?"

"I just want to be human. I just want to settle down in a house and live a normal life," said Yoshiko quietly. "But I lost that chance because of other mistakes I made."

"Raoul wasn't your fault!" cried Sango. "You can't say that was a mistake!"

"I guess," said Yoshiko gloomily. "Then again if I hadn't frozen up he wouldn't be dead."

"But then you would never have met us!" cried Sueko. "Is that a mistake?"

For a minute Yoshiko stared at her blinking. But when she couldn't hold the tears back any longer she started sobbing and started hugging Sueko. There was almost a split second where Sueko looked a little surprised but she quickly got over it. Everybody else was just a little weirded out because Yoshiko basically launched herself over the fire to get to Sueko.

"You're the bestest friend I've ever had!" cried Yoshiko between sobs. "It would be a mistake _not_ to realize that…"

"You're just seeing mistakes all over the place," muttered Miroku, which was soon followed by an "Ow!" when Sango hit him on the head.

"I just want him back… I don't care what I have to do but I want him back!" sobbed Yoshiko. "And I'm sorry if I worried any of you… I really am…"

"You didn't have me worried _at all_!" said InuYasha sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

At that Yoshiko suddenly sat up, her eyes void of tears, glaring at him. InuYasha just sat there, blinking at her until she stood up. When she stood up she put her hands on her hips and walked over to the half dog demon. He quickly glanced at either side to see if anybody was going to help him. But everybody just sat there calmly watching as Yoshiko bearing down on him. Slowly he began to back up against the wall until she was standing right above him. Suddenly she lifted up her fist and… simply hit him on the head.

"Ow!" cried InuYasha, rubbing his head. "What did you do that for?"

"That wasn't funny!" snapped Yoshiko.

"It wasn't supposed to be funny!" said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "It was supposed to make you think before you do something that stupid again."

"Well, I won't do something that stupid again, you moron," snapped Yoshiko, hitting InuYasha on the head again. "I'm not that stupid!"

"If you did it once, then you could do it again," said InuYasha, crossing his arms. Yoshiko hit him again. "Will you stop that?"

"No! Besides, I learned from my mistakes, why would I do it again?" shouted Yoshiko. "You're the one that's stupid, anyways!"

"I didn't go off and commit suicide," muttered InuYasha. This time Yoshiko was too lazy to hit him, so she kicked him instead. "Damn it! Will you stop it already?"

"Why?" said Yoshiko, pursing her lips, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Because it hurts!" said InuYasha, rubbing his head again.

"That's the point!" shouted Yoshiko. "I didn't kill _that many_ brain cells."

"Are you sure?" said InuYasha. "I think I may have some serious brain damage now."

Yet again Yoshiko hit him on the head, but this time it was really hard. At that it seemed nobody could contain it any longer; they all burst out laughing at the same time. Except for Shippo. He walked over slowly and looked at InuYasha and Yoshiko thoughtfully. Then his eyes opened up widely and he hit one of his little fists into his other hand as if he had just realized something. Then he put his hands on his hips.

"You know… You should forget about Sesshomaru," he said to Yoshiko, and then turned to InuYasha, "and you should forget about Kagome. Then you two could get together."

At this Yoshiko raised another quivering fist into the air and Shippo quickly ran and hid. Still on the ground nursing his bumped head, InuYasha's eyebrow was quivering madly. Before he could yell—as you could see he was going to do—Yoshiko ran after Shippo and picked him up by the tail. She lifted her fist to hit him then suddenly frowned. She dropped the small fox demon and sat down, sighing.

"I miss Jaken…" she said, as if this was a bad thing. "Of all imps to miss, I miss _Jaken_!"

"Um… Where did that come from?" said Miroku, in confusion.

"Who's Jaken?" asked Sueko.

"Actually, I miss hitting Jaken. I didn't do it much… But now I won't really get a chance," sighed Yoshiko.

"Okay… but who's Jaken?" asked Sueko.

"That's just sad," said InuYasha, shaking his at Yoshiko. "It's nothing special really. Even Kagome could beat him up."

"HELLO!" screamed Sueko. When everybody looked at her she blushed but continued. "Who's Jaken?"

Once again everybody started laughing… and Yoshiko was able to join in.

* * *

About a week after—well, everything that had happened—Sueko could be found sitting under a cherry blossom tree that was just beginning to bloom after a long winter, reading a book that she had actually already read, but it had been so long ago that she couldn't remember the ending—or the middle of it, even. And while she was reading a very suspenseful and drama-filled scene, Yoshiko decided to come over and sit next to her and say, "Hi."

Maybe if it had been InuYasha she would have just muttered a simple "hello" and go back to her book, but she had been awfully worried about Yoshiko since she had gone off and gotten herself killed—literally!—that Sueko couldn't just _ignore_ Yoshiko. So she shoved the book back in her book bag, looked up at Yoshiko and said with a smile, "Hi."

"Would you rather read your book?" asked Yoshiko sweetly.

Sueko shook her head. "Can't I find talking to a friend more entertaining than reading a book?"

Yoshiko's mouth twitched slightly upwards as if she was trying not to smile as she said, "Why can't you just admit you're _worried_ about me?"

"I am not!" cried Sueko, crossing her arms and wearing a frown. But it was so obvious she was lying that even Sueko had to laugh out loud a few seconds later.

"So," said Yoshiko, leaning back slightly, "did anything amazing happen while I was gone?"

"You mean when you were off saving the world?" asked Sueko, hugging her knees to her chest. "Not so much."

"No, before that," said Yoshiko, waving the thought away. "When I had gone off to be alone…"

"Oh," said Sueko, putting on a thoughtful expression as she tried to remember what had been going on during that time. Then she vaguely remembered the group's run-in with a young woman.

"We met this girl," said Sueko slowly. "She wanted us to kill a demon for her."

"Really?" said Yoshiko, her eyebrows going up.

"Uh huh," said Sueko. "Hmm… Yeah, she asked InuYasha if he would kill a demon for her, and in exchange she was going to give him a Water Stone afterwards."

"Hmm…"

"She was kinda weird. And she looked really depressed. And apparently she reminded InuYasha of Kikyo…" said Sueko, babbling.

"Kikyo?" said Yoshiko, looking interested. Then, with a pause, she asked, "What's the demon she wants you to kill?"

"Uh… she didn't really say," said Sueko with a sigh. "Sachiko—that's her name—just said she was a shape-shifter."

"_She_?" said Yoshiko.

"What, demons can't have a sex?" asked Sueko teasingly.

"No, it's just that demons usually aren't referred to as a boy or a girl," said Yoshiko. "At least, I've never heard anyone do so."

"Anyways…" said Sueko, a bit weirded out by the conversation change, "Myoga also showed up."

"Shoot. I missed out on that?" said Yoshiko, sighing dramatically.

"Apparently he left to visit the Water Shrine, but it was no longer there," said Sueko. "He explanation was that ten years ago the village that protected it—which was humans, just to let you know—was destroyed, and the only known survivors where two sisters…"

Sueko stopped talking suddenly as her brain did some figuring out of things. Yoshiko, noticing this, asked, "What?"

"There were two survivors of the village that protected the Water Shrine," said Sueko slowly. "And Sachiko had a Water Stone… and how many people walk around with Shrine Stones shoved into their pockets!"

"Wow…" said Yoshiko, thinking what Sueko had said through. "So if Sachiko is one of the two survivors to the village, who's the other sister?"

"So you finally figured it out…" said a voice nearby.

Sueko jumped up in surprise and started looking around for the source of the sound. Yoshiko just looked up at the tree, and when Sueko did the same she saw a young girl about her age with raven hair and a green skirt…

"Kagome!" cried Sueko, jumping up and grabbing for her sword. As she was doing this the girl jumped out of the tree and tried to take the sword away from Sueko so she couldn't use it, but when the girl's hand made contact with the sword the girl jumped back in surprise, looking at her hand with a shocked look on her face.

During all of this everyone had rushed over to Sueko and Yoshiko, and the four others were all staring at the girl in the green and white outfit with looks of astonishment. And Sueko really couldn't blame them.

InuYasha was the first, amazingly enough, to recover from the shock as he unsheathed his sword and said in a teasing manner, "So, what do you think you're up to this time?"

Kagome—or maybe it should be "Kagome" since this obviously was not the real Kagome, the real one being dead and all—laughed a haughty laugh and snapped, "Oh, wouldn't _you_ love to know?"

Then she looked back at her hand. Sueko noticed that where it had touched her sword there was now a faint burn mark on the girl's hand. Sueko found this fact fascinating and looked at her sword with an eyebrow raised, but looked up when Yoshiko said, her confusion evident in her voice, "Who are you?"

"How about you ask _them_!" said the girl cheerfully, pointing a finger at InuYasha, Sango, Miroku and Shippo.

When Yoshiko turned to Sango curiously Sango sighed and said, "She's—"

"Don't say she's Kagome!" cried InuYasha, turning to glare at Sango and Yoshiko. "That girl is as far from Kagome as you can get!"

"Kagome?" said Yoshiko, looking back at the girl before her. "Isn't she dead?"

"Do I _look_ dead to you?" said the girl crankily, putting her hands on her hips. Then, with a sigh, she put her hands to her side and muttered, "I don't have time for this." And before anyone could react she held her arms out, a dagger appearing in her right hand. It reminded Sueko of Kamatari… except Kamatari was a guy!

Right? For all she knew he could be an _it_… um…

Before Sueko could even think of a thing to do about it, Kagome grabbed Sueko by the sleeve, pulled her to her, and held the dagger at Sueko's neck. And then Kagome cried right in Sueko's ear, "Hand me the stones, or the girl gets it!"

Everyone was all freaked out by this—well, not really, but Yoshiko, Sango, Miroku and InuYasha all wore worried and angry expressions, and Shippo just looked confused—but Sueko didn't feel worried at all. Just annoyed.

"What do you think you're doing!" cried Sueko, trying to get out of the girl's grip.

"Shut up!" cried Kagome angrily. "You already ruined my second idea! Don't go ruining my third!"

"Wha…" said Sueko, extremely confused.

"What makes you think we're just going to _hand_ you the stones?" snapped InuYasha. "I highly doubt you'll use them for any good deeds."

Kagome laughed coldly. "I bet the only reason you're collecting the stones in the first place is so you can be a _full demon_. Well, hate to burst your little bubble, but turning into a full demon is going to make your life a living hell, so how about you just forgot about the stupid dream and give me the stones?" And then, perhaps to show that she was really not in the mood, Kagome's grip on Sueko tightened and she held the dagger closer to her neck.

Sueko, rolling her eyes exasperatedly, said, "You know, if you had half a brain in your head you'd realize that if anyone has the stones it'd be _me_, seeing how _I'm_ the one 'collecting' them. So how about you let go of me!"

Well, thankfully Kagome did let go of her—but did she have to push Sueko away from her?—and, with a tired sigh, snapped, "Fine. Hand me the stones, then!"

Getting up and brushing the dirt off her blouse and skirt, Sueko crossed her arms and said with a laugh, "Oh, you actually thought I'd give them to you? That was just a way to have you let go of me. Kagome must have been really skinny because your arms are pretty bony…"

It looked as though Kagome's patience had run low. Her eyes turned blue as she clenched her fists, and suddenly the girl was no longer Kagome… Well, she was suddenly becoming taller, her hair grew and became smoother and not as messy, her face narrowed and the eyes stayed that deep blue color… Kagome's schoolgirl outfit disappeared and became a blue, yellow and white kimono.

This girl obviously was no longer Kagome. But somehow, when Sueko looked up at her face—the girl, or maybe woman, was as tall as InuYasha—she thought the woman looked familiar.

"If I screw this up _again_ I'll never hear the end of it!" the woman shrieked. It seemed as though she was talking to herself… if she wasn't then it would just hurt Sueko's head to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

InuYasha sighed. "Are you done yet?"

"Wait…" said Yoshiko suddenly, making everyone look at her. Yoshiko turned to Sueko to say, "Didn't that Sachiko person want you to kill a shape-shifter?"

Before Sueko could respond the woman before them started laughing, laughing so hard she had to hold on to a nearby tree, lest she'd loose her balance.

"Oh… my… Wow… I thought she was pathetic, but not _that_ pathetic!" the woman cried through her laughter.

"What in the hell are you spouting?" snapped InuYasha.

The girl quickly stopped laughing and looked at InuYasha with her deep blue eyes. "Haven't you figured it out already, mutt-boy?" Then it sounded like she was talking to herself again as she said, "Sachiko's tried to kill me so many times, but it seems as though she just doesn't have the heart to kill her own sister. Oh my… Is she so desperate that she hired a half breed to do the dirty work for her?"

"Family is still family even if you hate the hell out of them," said another voice from up in the tree.

Before anybody could say anything somebody dropped down out of the tree right next to Sukiyama. Instantly the long black hair and many layered outfit registered in Sueko's mind. It was Rheda, Yoshiko's aunt. Blinking in confusion, she backed up a little until Yoshiko walked over to her. She half expected the tiger demon to turn to her niece, but she stood looking at Sukiyama with her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, crap…" muttered Sukiyama. "It's you…"

"You know, I don't really appreciate people taking my form," said Rheda icily. "Especially when it involves tricking my friends."

"But these aren't—" started Sukiyama in a whining voice. Then she stopped and started over again in her regular voice. "How did you know I took your form?"

"I knew _somebody_ took my form," said Rheda, with a smirk. "I just figured it was you and you proved it for me."

"Damn it! You're going to ruin everything!" cried Sukiyama.

"Oh, and I'm not going to let you try and steal Elemental stones that are rightfully mine," said Rheda, causing Yoshiko to roll her eyes. "So leave now before I decide you're better off dead."

Glaring at the tiger demon, Sukiyama ran off almost in a blink of an eye. Rheda stared after her thoughtfully before turning to InuYasha.

"I was just wondering if you had seen Sesshomaru lately because there's a rumor—" she started. Then she stopped and turned to Yoshiko.

"Um… Hi?" said Yoshiko, waving.

"I heard you were dead and I was going to go comfort Sesshomaru!" cried Rheda, pointing a finger at Yoshiko. The half-demon gave a small laugh.

"Me? Dead? You've got to be kidding me…" she said in a monotone voice. "Do I look dead to you?"

"Looks can be deceiving," said Rheda, turning away and looking at Yoshiko out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh, shut up, I'm not dead," cried Yoshiko, hitting her aunt on the head. After she did so she stood there with her hand in the air, blinking in confusion. She hadn't done that in forever. Not since she had first moved in with her aunt.

"Well now," said Rheda, with a small smile. "I'm seeing a definite change in you. What brought that around?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms and turning away.

Rheda shook her head and turned back to InuYasha. Before she could say anything, he spoke up.

"We don't know where Sesshomaru is. But if you do find him maybe you could tell us," said InuYasha, staring pointedly at Yoshiko's back.

At that Yoshiko froze and dropped her arms to her side. Slowly she raised her hands and put them into fists. Then she turned toward InuYasha, eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?" she said in a dangerous undertone.

"Ahhh!" said Rheda. "Did you two get into a fight?"

Before Yoshiko could say anything InuYasha responded, "Something like that."

Crying out in anger Yoshiko punched InuYasha on the cheek, sending him to the ground. Rheda gave a small giggle as everybody stared at InuYasha and Yoshiko worriedly. When InuYasha sat up rubbing his sore cheek Yoshiko kicked him in the shin before turning away.

"What was that for?" snapped InuYasha.

"I'm quite capable of answering for myself, thank you very much," said Yoshiko coolly. "Plus it sounded like a good idea at the time and it blew off steam."

"You're saying you enjoyed hitting me, aren't you?" growled InuYasha, starting to stand up.

"Now that you mention it…" said Yoshiko thoughtfully. Then she turned around and hit InuYasha on the head. "Yeah, I did!"

"Well, I can see you're all very busy," laughed Rheda. "So I'll leave you alone. Now about Sesshomaru…"

"You'll stay far, far, far away from him," hissed Yoshiko, her eyes narrowing.

"Are we being a bit possessive?" asked Rheda, raising an eyebrow. "Really, you of all people would realize he's not my type!"

"I look like I care," muttered Yoshiko.

"But of course, he's not your type either," said Rheda thoughtfully.

"If he wasn't you wouldn't be interested," said Yoshiko icily. "Now leave before I decide that you're better off dead."

"Dear me, I'm afraid I might have rubbed off onto you!" cried Rheda in mock horror. "Oh well, I'll see you later!"

"Ha!" laughed Yoshiko. When InuYasha moaned she kicked him again.

"What did I do to deserve this abuse?" cried InuYasha, jumping to his feet and backing away.

"Absolutely nothing," said Yoshiko, shrugging. "I'm simply bored and don't appreciate your whining."

"You really do sound like your aunt…" said Sueko in a low voice.

"Shut up!" cried Yoshiko. "Let's move out of here… Sooner we find Sesshomaru the better!"

"I thought you didn't care that he and Rheda kissed!" said Sueko, jokingly.

"And I said that the only thing I had to worry about was Sesshomaru falling in love with her," said Yoshiko. "Then I didn't think he _could_ fall in love, okay?"

"That makes sense…" said Sango. "But why the sudden change?"

"I don't know…" said Yoshiko, looking up at the sky much like Utako might.

Everybody started laughing.

* * *

The group grabbed up their stuff and started off, having a friendly conversation now and again. But it was quite obvious everybody was still worried about Yoshiko. Though she showed signs of being her old self, there were still times when she would sigh and stare off into the distance. For some reason InuYasha spent the entire trip walking with Yoshiko, especially when she wasn't talking. Everybody, however, had his or her own theories as to why this was. Miroku believed it had to do with the fact that Yoshiko seemed to be acting a lot like Kikyo. Sango thought it was more that Yoshiko was reminding InuYasha of himself. Shippo, being the young child that he was, was fixed on the fact that InuYasha liked Yoshiko… and more than just as a friend.

Sueko however simply thought he was worried about her. Though for a split second she thought it might be a little bit more, she soon brushed that thought away. Instead she thought about how sweet InuYasha was acting and hoped that he would do the same for her someday. Yoshiko didn't really seem to notice. Or, at least, she made no sign that she noticed. But she found it quite relieving that for once she had some friends that would help her through this mistake in her life. God only knew she needed them.

The day wore on and everybody seemed to get quieter and quieter. Yoshiko seemed almost desperate as she told everybody that could stop at nightfall and not anytime before. Their path went into a small canyon with a river running through the middle. Sango was worried that they wouldn't be able to make it out before sunset but Yoshiko assured her that it was a fairly small canyon. As time passed Sueko shot more and more worried glances at Yoshiko over her shoulder. She was worried the half tiger demon would notice but she seemed to be off in her own little world.

'Kind of like me after the labyrinth,' thought Sueko as she glanced over again.

Yoshiko was staring off over the river as the opposite bank, holding her sheathed sword and leaving it against her shoulder. She did this often, Sueko realized just then. Yoshiko never really seemed to keep her sword in her belt when they were traveling. She always carried it. But the red hilt would have clashed horribly with her purple kimono so Sueko didn't blame her. Wait… she knew that _why_? Had Tamika possessed her and made her suddenly think horrible fashion thoughts?

'You know, I haven't been home in a while. I really need new clothes,' thought Sueko, sighing.

When she did, she half expected somebody to ask her what was up. But everybody seemed so intoned on Yoshiko and whatever it was she was looking at. Though as far as Sueko could see there was nothing there. Sango and Miroku were probably just looking for the same reason as Sueko: to see what had Yoshiko so captivated. Not even InuYasha glanced at Sueko when she sighed and he normally noticed these sorts of things. And so did Yoshiko… when she wasn't depressed and thinking suicidal thoughts. Not that she was anymore… Anyways, she got so annoyed she turned toward Yoshiko and hit her on the head.

"Ow!" cried Yoshiko. "I probably deserved it… but what was that for?"

"Welcome back!" teased Sueko, remembering when Yoshiko had the done the same to her after the labyrinth.

"When did I leave?" said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"Who knows," shrugged Sueko. "You seem to be going in and out of your own little dream world."

"Yeah, what's so preoccupying?" asked Sango.

"Lots of things," said Yoshiko thoughtfully, looking across the river again. She started walking and InuYasha moved away so Sueko could walk with her. But he still kept a close eye on the half tiger demon.

"Penny for your thoughts?" suggested Sueko, thinking it corny that she was using such an old phrase. She couldn't even remember where she picked it up—probably from TV.

"I don't think they're even worth _that_ much," laughed Yoshiko, turning to smile at the girl.

"Oh, come on, everybody's thoughts are important," said Sueko, crossing her arms. "Just sometimes they don't seem like it to other people!"

"But friends have to at least pretend like they're important," added Sango.

"You'd have to pretend pretty hard for me," said Yoshiko.

"Don't kid yourself," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "Besides, you're stalling for time!"

Before Yoshiko could even open her mouth to say anything, a falling figure caught Sueko's eyes and she gasped. She pointed a finger but as soon as everybody turned the person had fallen into the river with a loud splash. Even though the water wasn't moving fast, the current was still strong enough to carry an unconscious person to the bottom and drown them. Gallantly Miroku dived into the river and pulled the person to the top and swam back to the bank. It was then that Sueko could make out bright orange hair in a ponytail and a purple version of Sango's outfit without the armor. You could see by the grin on Miroku's face that he was enjoying it completely and as soon as Yoshiko relieved him of his "burden" Sango quickly hit him on the head. Sueko rushed over to help Yoshiko just as the women's eyes opened up.

"Kane…" she muttered, almost as if asking someone who wasn't there for help. Sueko looked at Yoshiko questioningly and saw a look of utter shock. And right after she called out the name, the woman's eyes closed and she passed out.

Everybody attempted to keep Yoshiko away from the strange woman, but she didn't give in. She spent an entire hour sitting at the woman's side, practically glaring down at her. Eventually Sango came over, hands on her hips, and looked down at Yoshiko disapprovingly. At first she acted like she didn't know Sango was there, but finally she got annoyed. Slowly she wrenched her eyes off of the woman and looked up at Sango angrily.

"What?" she snapped.

"How would you like it if you woke up to somebody glaring down at _you_?" said Sango.

"Well, I would prefer that over waking up and not seeing _anyone_!" said Yoshiko exasperatedly. "Besides—"

Before she could finish her thought, the woman stirred. Immediately everybody dropped what they were doing to turn their attention to Yoshiko and the woman. Bright green eyes opened and fell upon Yoshiko's face. Before anybody could even move, Yoshiko spoke up.

"Why did you say my father's name?" she cried.

"What?" said the woman, blinking.

"Before you passed out you muttered 'Kane.' That's my father and I want to know how the hell you knew his name!" snapped Yoshiko.

"You're Kane's daughter?" muttered the woman, a sad look coming over her face. "So… you're Yoshiko?"

"Okay, this is officially freakin' me out! How the hell do you know _my_ name?" cried Yoshiko, standing up.

A small smile passed over the woman's face and she slowly got to her feet. Her eyes passed over the group before coming back to Yoshiko. However, her start at an explanation was quickly interrupted.

"Well, well, well…" came a familiar voice behind Yoshiko. She spun around to see Rheda stepping out of the trees. "Long time no see."

"How long has it been? Twenty years?" asked the woman, her eyes twinkling.

"Twenty-one… No wait…" said Rheda thoughtfully. "Okay, in two days it'll be exactly 21 years."

"That's pathetic," murmured Yoshiko.

"Oh, shut up! Like your little brother didn't remember the day _you_ abandoned _him_!" sneered Rheda. "By the way, Fluffy's coming right behind me."

"I did not abandon…" started Yoshiko. Then she stopped, looking perplexed. "Fluffy?"

"Yeah…" said Rheda. "Oh yeah! You haven't heard his new nickname. Do you like it?"

"Who… the… hell… are… we talking about?" hissed Yoshiko through her teeth.

"Sesshomaru of course!" said Rheda exasperatedly. Then she acted like Yoshiko wasn't there and turned toward the woman. "So, where have you been hiding Katsumi?"

"Hiding? I haven't been hiding," laughed Katsumi. "You just don't seem to know where to look for me!"

"So where have I forgotten to look?" asked Rheda, raising an eyebrow.

"Mostly the old Demon Exterminator village. Other than that, I've just been wandering," shrugged Katsumi.

During this entire exchange Yoshiko had been staring at Rheda, her mouth slightly open. But when she heard rustling in the trees behind her aunt, she quickly closed it. Though she expected it, she was still surprised when Sesshomaru stepped out of the tree behind Rheda. He turned a disapproving look upon the tiger demon then turned toward Yoshiko. She expected to see a look of extreme loathing in his eyes and was rather shocked when she didn't. But she didn't have time to figure out what exactly he was feeling before a small figure collided with her leg. Looking down she saw Rin hugging her around the middle and felt dazed.

"Hi…" she said breathlessly.

"I thought I was never going to see you again!" cried Rin.

"What?" said Yoshiko dazedly. Then she realized what the girl was saying. "Now what would make you think that? Didn't I promise I would come back?"

"Yeah. But…" said Rin, looking up at her.

"Well, isn't that sweet!" laughed Rheda. "Pretending that you _didn't_ try and get yourself killed, and all."

Yoshiko looked up quickly at her aunt, her eyes narrowed. But the tiger demon seemed not to notice and instead turned toward Sesshomaru, resting her arm on his shoulder.

"You know you hurt Fluffy's feelings! What would you do if your places were switched?" said Rheda, with a small smile. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and he turned away. "I had to take time away from my life to—"

"BITCH!" yelled Yoshiko, punching Rheda right in the nose.

"What the hell?" cried Rheda, pulling away and putting her hands to her nose. "Crap, I think you broke my nose!"

"I look like I care!" shouted Yoshiko. "Besides, a good night's sleep and it'll be as good as new!"

"But I like my nose _before_ you made it crooked!" snapped Rheda. "Now it's not as pretty anymore."

"LIVE WITH IT!" screamed Yoshiko, turning on her heel and stomping off.

Nobody made to stop her as she walked off into the trees as far away from Rheda as she could. After a while Yoshiko got tired of walking and, sighing angrily, leaned against a tree. It wasn't too long after that she realized somebody had been following her. Rolling her eyes, she turned toward the place the person was standing.

"Can I help you?" she asked. When Katsumi stepped out of the trees she let her anger melt slightly. "Any particular reason you followed me?"

"I thought it would be an excellent time to get to know my daughter," shrugged Katsumi. "Plus it looked like everybody else was quite worried about you."

"I worry everybody," sighed Yoshiko. "They're especially worried since I decided to get myself killed."

"If you give them a reason to trust you, maybe they won't worry as much," said Katsumi, looking away sadly.

"Guess our family just has a habit of wanting to die," muttered Yoshiko. "First Dad, then Godric and now me."

"Godric?" said Katsumi in surprise, turning toward Yoshiko.

"He was my little brother… Half-brother," said Yoshiko off handedly.

"Kane married again…"

"What did you expect him to do? Wait around forever for you to come back?" snapped Yoshiko. Then she took on a kinder tone. "Not that we ever blamed you for leaving."

A sad smile came to Katsumi's face as she responded, "I'm sure you did. You're just trying to be nice."

"Okay, I did for a little bit. But I was young and stupid," laughed Yoshiko. "And Dad rarely spoke about you. In fact, he wouldn't talk about you… But you could tell he really missed you!"

"I know he did…" murmured Katsumi. "In fact, he told me so before he died."

Before Yoshiko could even _think_ of a response for this, another sound came to her ears. It was almost like a low whistle that the wind would make, but there was no wind. In fact, the trees were extremely still. Obviously Katsumi had caught the sound as well because she was drawing two short swords. Yoshiko found this a bit odd because she couldn't prove that it was a demon of any sort. But she stood up, drawing her own sword just as she realized that the sound was coming from behind her. Spinning around she half expected to see someone like Kamatari. But instead her sword collided with another, which had tendrils of black smoke coming off of it. At first it seemed as if there was no one wielding the sword when suddenly a pale, grinning face appeared in the dark smoke.

"Well, it's about time I found you," said a young yet cold voice.

Jumping away, Yoshiko found herself standing next to Katsumi who was sweating worriedly. Instantly the dark smoke disappeared and where it used to be stood a young boy with a smile almost similar to Sueko's, though Yoshiko would have preferred Sueko's over his. His hair was ruffled slightly but still seemed to be neat as he looked down to sheath his sword. But after he sheathed it, it disappeared in a flash of dark smoke. He acted as if this was something interesting, even for him, and then shrugged. He looked up at the two tiger demons with a grin, cocking his head to one side. His outfit was completely black with a high black collar. It made him look even more pale. When he took a step closer Katsumi clutched tighter at her swords. Before Yoshiko could say anything the tiger demon gave a cry and jumped toward the young boy. All he had to do was duck to dodge the attack and he punched her in the stomach, sending her flying backwards into a tree.

"What the hell did you do that for!" cried Yoshiko in horror. She was surprised at the power in such a young boy.

"Hmmm… that's a good question," said the boy thoughtfully, his voice sending shivers down Yoshiko's back. "I guess… because I can?"

"Don't expect to get a better answer," hissed Katsumi, struggling to get to her feet. "Hotaka doesn't believe in anything but having fun in other people's pain."

"Who is he?" cried Yoshiko almost sarcastically. "Kamatari?"

"Oh, please," said the boy, sitting down on a rock, putting one of his legs on his other and jiggling his foot. "Don't mistake me for that pathetic fool. He couldn't even kill you properly."

"Ain't that too bad," sighed Yoshiko. "Then who the hell are you?"

"Hell… There's your own clue for you," laughed the boy. "But as your good mother said, my name is Hotaka."

"That's nice," said Yoshiko, putting one hand on her hip. "But what does 'Hell' have anything to do with it?"

"Excuse me?" cried Hotaka in horror, falling dramatically backwards off the rock. It was almost amusing. When his head popped up from behind the rock he continued on. "You're completely obsessed with everything to do with the 'Last One' and you don't know who _I_ am? I feel so insulted."

"Good for me," said Yoshiko, starting to get bored and annoyed. "But you're kind of young to be the demon of all evil."

"Kind… of… young…" muttered Hotaka. Then jumped to his feet. "What do you expect out of me? The 'Last One' is a freakin' child! At least I'm good looking…"

"Don't flatter yourself," laughed Yoshiko. "You're still just a little kid."

"I'm at least 17 looking," snapped Hotaka. "Maybe 18…"

"You don't even know how old you are…" said Yoshiko blankly. "How pathetic can you get?"

"Hello! I'm pure evil here! Insulting me is so not a good thing," said Hotaka, putting his hands on his hips. "By the way…"

He put out one of his hands and suddenly dark tendrils of smoke wrapped around it. For a while Yoshiko expected it to go away to show whatever it was Hotaka wanted to show them. But then she realized that the thing was already there… and the smoke was coming _from_ that thing. So she focused her attention on his hand more and saw it: a perfectly formed stone completely black in color. Yoshiko raised her eyebrows questioningly and in surprise.

"What's that?" she asked, trying to sound like she was interested.

"You… don't… know… what it is…" said Hotaka through his teeth. He closed his hand around the black stone and hung his head. At first Yoshiko was just confused. Then she heard something rather familiar. He was breathing in and out almost exactly like how Sueko had the first time she met Sesshomaru.

"Well, I thought it was a myth!" said Yoshiko defensively.

"What are you talking about?" said Katsumi, still kneeling on the ground, clutching at her stomach.

"You don't want me to explain… I'll go on and on and on and…" started Yoshiko. Then she stopped, shaking her head.

"You two are starting to bore me now," yawned Hotaka. Then a mischievous grin crossed his face and he opened his hand again.

At first Yoshiko didn't notice anything unusual. But as she watched Hotaka she noticed that he seemed to disappear and in his place was that foul dark smoke again. The she heard Katsumi gasp and turned toward the tiger demon. The woman was looking down at the ground in horror where a dark tunnel had opened up. Recognizing it as the one Yoshiko had fallen in a while ago, she ran over to Katsumi. As she did so dark smoke came out of the pit, surrounding her and Katsumi. Narrowing her eyes she reached out and grabbed the tiger demon's arm as the darkness swallowed them up.

* * *

"That wench!" cried Emiko after Katsumi had gone after Yoshiko. Her nose already seemed to be doing better but she kept on patting it because it was swelling.

"You had it coming," said Sesshomaru calmly. The strange girl with the red shirt nodded her agreement. Then stopped as if she realized what she was doing.

"I blame you if she takes out her anger on me next," said InuYasha moodily, crossing his arms.

"Now why would she do that?" said Emiko in mock astonishment.

"Because she seems to think it's fun to make me squirm," muttered InuYasha.

"But you have to admit it's quite entertaining," said the monk thoughtfully, leaning on the half-demon's shoulder.

"Especially since it means she isn't hitting me," said the small fox demon, putting his hands on his head.

Suddenly Sesshomaru noticed Rin glaring up at Emiko looking almost close to tears. But her hands were in fists and her eyes were narrowed, showing how extremely angry she was. It seemed Emiko had followed his gaze and looked down at Rin as well. She looked almost as surprised as Sesshomaru felt. But her expression softened as she leaned down to be at eye level with the little girl.

"What's up?" Emiko asked, smiling slightly.

"You're mean, cruel and evil!" cried Rin. "You didn't have to say those things to Lady Yoshiko!"

"Excuse me?" cried Emiko, standing up straight. "I was just giving her the facts!"

"Some that she's already looked at," snapped InuYasha. "If there's one thing I hate is when people throw my mistakes back in my face after I've learned how to deal with them!"

"Besides, she was working to fix them," said the woman with brown hair. "Which is probably why she didn't want you anywhere _near_ Sesshomaru!"

"You act as if you don't _trust _me!" cried Emiko, putting her hands to her cheeks in mock horror.

"It's not like you've given anyone a reason to trust you," said Sesshomaru, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, so you're taking their side are you?" snapped Emiko icily.

In response he turned toward her, eyes narrowed. She rolled her eyes.

"Of course," Emiko sighed. "Stupid question."

"Well, well, well," said an unfamiliar cold voice. At it Emiko jumped and attempted to hide behind Sesshomaru. But then she thought better of it and her dagger appeared in her hand with a flash of flames. "Having a very intelligent conversation, I see!"

"Have we learned sarcasm, Hotaka?" sneered Emiko. At this a long cold laugh came from the shadows in the direction Yoshiko had left in.

"Who's there?" cried InuYasha, drawing his sword. It almost looked as though a person seemed to materialize in the darkness before walking out.

"Hey! My sword is glowing!" cried the strange girl, drawing her sword, which was, in fact, glowing a steady blue. "Do you have an elemental stone?"

"Why would I waste my time with those things?" cried the boy walking out of the trees in horror. "Wait… _You're_ the 'Last One?'"

"Um… yeah… so?" said the girl, blinking.

"But… but… but…" stammered the kid. "You're more of a child than I thought!"

"What do you think you are?" said Jaken, walking closer to the boy. "A midget, maybe?"

"Okay, a half-demon insulting me is one thing, but an imp?" cried the boy, shaking a finger in disapproval. "That's a little too much. So," he continued, glaring down at Jaken and kicking him really hard, "I WOULD KEEP YOUR BEAK SHUT IF I WERE YOU!"

"Master Jaken!" cried Rin, running into the trees to find the imp. Everybody else just seemed amazed at the power in such a young boy. Except, it seemed, Emiko.

"Do you enjoy picking on those a great deal smaller than you?" she snapped. "Or are you going to tell me that was actually _painful_ for you to do, Hotaka?"

"Please! I enjoy picking on everybody equally," laughed the boy. "And it's been a while since I've gotten a chance to!"

"You sure have gotten efficient at wiping out tiger demons," said Emiko icily. "Or have you gotten bored of that already?"

"Well, I wouldn't be bored if, let's see…" said the boy thoughtfully. "Oh, I know! IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH WEAKLINGS!"

Then he paused as if thinking about something. In the meantime the girl was starting to look confused. She was glancing from her sword to the boy blinking continually. InuYasha looked like he was starting to get annoyed but he didn't say anything, just glared at her.

"No, wait," said the boy finally. "That half tiger demon wasn't that weak. But that woman—Katsumi, I think her name is—just _had_ to interfere!"

"What did you do with my sister?" screamed Emiko.

"Wow, touchy are we?" laughed the boy, putting a finger in his ear as if it hurt. "I didn't do anything! You know very well I don't do anything! Okay, I punched her. That was pretty fun."

"You're disgusting," snapped InuYasha. "So what happened to Katsumi and Yoshiko?"

"Want to find out?" said the boy, a grin spreading across his face slowly.

"It would be much easier if you just told us," growled Sesshomaru, stepping closer.

"Touchy, are we?" laughed the boy. "Let's see… Oh, I know! You're _afraid_ of losing that girl. That silly half-demon who thought it was impossible for me to come back from hell!"

For some reason everybody glanced at him. But all he did was stand there calmly, staring at the boy evenly. This obviously was not what he had been expecting, because he pursed his lips at Sesshomaru in annoyance. Then he sighed, turning away slightly and putting a hand behind his head.

"Oh, well, I'm afraid I've grown bored of you already!" he said, acting as if he was greatly grieved. "Let's play!"

With that a dark smoke circled around their feet, slowly moving upwards until they were all completely engulfed. He heard Emiko scream before it seemed every single sense was blocked out and he felt himself falling.

* * *

"InuYasha!" cried Sueko, trying to see through all the smoke. She really did not like fog… Okay, this was smoke this time around, but whatever… The labyrinth was no trip and Sueko just knew this wouldn't be either. But the smoke didn't last as long as that fog seemed to last at the labyrinth and all Sueko could see was this barren landscape going on for miles on end. It looked like an old battlefield… at least, Sueko was figuring this by all the bones of old samurai surrounding her. She didn't see anyone else with her though…

That was, until she noticed that same boy standing about ten feet in front of her with this cocky grin on his face. And Sueko also noticed her sword was glowing blue. Really bright blue, and it was even sort of vibrating… Like perhaps something extremely important was around? She just did not understand her sword…

"Where's everyone else?" Sueko asked timidly to the boy, looking around her.

"Do you want the truth or the exaggerated truth?" the boy asked sarcastically.

Sueko moaned. This boy was reminding her of Akio! And it helped that this boy was around the same age as her…

"Exaggerated?" said Sueko, curious as to what sarcastic remark he'd make.

The boy grinned. "Don't worry about them… They're all just fine! And when you come back home they'll all be there waiting for you!"

Sueko chuckled. "That's _so_ not the truth…"

The boy smiled sweetly. "Well, it _was_ exaggerated…"

"How exaggerated can you get!" cried Sueko.

Laughing, the boy said, "If you want the truth, you're 'friends' are actually in some sort of dream state in a mild version of hell… There, do you feel better now?"

Sueko blinked a few times. "WHAT?"

"Must I repeat myself?" sighed the boy.

"THEY'RE IN **HELL**!" bellowed Sueko.

"_Milder_ state of hell, _milder_ state…" The boy laughed again. "Can you hear?"

Sueko sighed, hoping that the guy was just yanking her chain. But her hope was filled with extreme doubt so instead she asked, "Um… _dude_, do you have a name?"

The boy blinked. "_Dude_? Whatever… it's Hotaka. What, that tiger demon didn't tell you about me?"

Sueko blinked as well. "Was she supposed to?"

Hotaka laughed yet again. Apparently he found her amusing as hell. "How dense are you?"

"Hey!" said Sueko, feeling offended. "Okay, so I don't get the most wonderful grades in school and I suck at pretty much everything I try to do… but that doesn't make me dense!"

Hotaka chuckled. "What sort of rubbish are you spouting, 'Last One'?"

"I have a name, you know…" said Sueko darkly as her temple throbbed.

"Would you prefer if I called you Akemi, then?" said Hotaka sweetly—so sweetly it was kind of creepy and made Sueko walk a few paces backward.

"Who's Akemi? I'm Sueko, not Akemi!"

Hotaka grinned. "That tiger demon didn't tell you _anything_, did she?"

Now Sueko was just annoyed. What did this kid know that she didn't!

"What the hell are you talking about?" she snapped.

"Why should I tell you?" the boy said boredly, sighing and crossing his arms while pretending to lean on an invisible wall. "I think it'd be much more entertaining to watch you all try and get that half tiger demon to tell it all."

"Why… can't… you… just… TELL ME!" cried Sueko impatiently.

Hotaka raised an eyebrow at her. "Feisty, aren't yah?"

Sueko closed her eyes and tried to breath deeply, because if she didn't she might just walk over and strangle the guy. But when she heard the footsteps from the boy come towards her she opened her eyes to find Hotaka standing right in front of her. Maybe a bit too close to her for her liking…

"You were amusing for a time but then you just became tiring…" sighed Hotaka, rubbing his temple. When Sueko still looked up at him with the same frown planted upon her face, he gave a small little smile and said in a singsong voice, "Time to say hello to your little friends again!" Then he put two fingers to her forehead and Sueko suddenly saw no more.


	30. Our Darkest Secrets

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Wow, almost thirty chapters already! And we have like forty-five reviews! La la la… I suppose I have run out of things to babble on about because I can't think of anything to say. Sorry the updates have been so slow. I bet I've lost all my fans now. :'( Hopefully you'll be so bored over summer break (if you still go to school and get summer vacation, that is) that you'll come back and read all that you've missed. And maybe Ravyn will write more of the fan fic. _glares_ It's her freakin' turn yet she's so busy being caught up in a Harry Potter mood that she can't write more. Okay, so I've been in a Harry Potter mood lately too because of her but I still managed to write all my stuff! The third InuYasha movie, _Swords of an Honorable Ruler_, comes out in the US September 6th. I can't wait! And they're playing the fourth movie, _Fire of the Mystic Island_, in theaters in Japan right now. But I hear it's all about Kikyo/InuYasha. :P I say that Kikyo should actually die already and InuYasha get a life and move on. _sighs_ The third one is about Sesshomaru and their daddy, which sounds so much more entertaining, don't you think:) Okay, you can read the fan fic now…

**DISCLAIMER **  
All we own in this chapter is the plot, Sueko, Yoshiko, Hotaka, Katsumi, Tamika, and Keitaro. Oh, and Kane. Forgot about him. :P So no stealing any of those. However, everything else belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Sunrise, and Viz and all those other companies. There, are you happy now! Wait, now that Michelle Branch song is stuck in my head… But I don't know the actual title of the song and now it's bugging the hell outta me… and I'm too lazy to look on the CD… _sigh_ Dammit! Maybe it is just "Are You Happy Now"… whatever, read fan fic! And reply! Sayonara!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Our Darkest Secrets**

She knew that this was all a dream; that she was really in some other dimension; that this was all some ploy by Hotaka. But like every other time before, Katsumi found herself thinking, "Screw it!" and going along with it. This time it started out after she and Kane had met. After she had already had Yoshiko. In fact, she was standing in her room rocking baby Yoshiko, humming quietly. Then she knew somebody was standing in the doorway behind her, but she couldn't tell whom it was. When she glanced over her shoulder, the first thing she saw was a dark figure. She gasped. But then it turned out to just be Kane.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," sighed Katsumi, turning toward her husband with a smile.

"Sorry," he said quite seriously. "Did I scare you?"

"Of course not!" laughed Katsumi sarcastically. "But seriously, my first instinct would have been to drop the child and protect myself!"

A small smile played across Kane's face as he wrapped his hands around her waist.

"Don't insult the woman I love," he said playingly. "You have a mother's instinct. You would have protected the baby if I had been anything dangerous."

"I hope you're right," muttered Katsumi, setting the baby down and following Kane out of the room.

As she did so it seemed as if the scene around her evaporated and slowly turned to another. It was the one thing that could convince her that it wasn't reality. Besides the fact that she knew Kane was dead. Speaking of which… It turned out the next scene was going to take place in a forest, probably about ten years after the first one. Then again, it wasn't like she kept track of time. She was a demon that was going to die eventually and there was no point in counting down until that time came. But she recognized which scene this was. It was, in fact, one of Hotaka's favorites. Usually it took a while to get to this time but it seemed today he was impatient. Or had other things to preoccupy him so didn't seem like he wanted to "play" with her that much.

She sighed and decided to go along with it. Taking a few tentative steps, the thoughts of what was going to happen next came flooding to her. Again. She was going to watch Kane die right in front of her very eyes again. It was more than she could bear thinking about. As she tried one more step she gave up, dissolving in tears, dropping to her knees and just crying. Hoping that by this Hotaka would figure he had finally broken her and finally be satisfied, she didn't try and stop herself. Still when there was no change of scenery she thought maybe Hotaka had forgotten about her.

That was until he showed up. Through her tears and swollen eyes she saw a pair of feet in front of her stop. Slowly she looked up, wondering whom it was that had wandered across her. When she finally could see his face she gasped and tried to get to her feet. That was when the pain in her ribs seemed to come back, stealing her breath away and causing her to stay on the ground, doubled over in pain. She heard the man smirk and knew it couldn't be who it looked like. Kane never would have laughed at her pain.

"You… bastard…" Katsumi gasped in her pain.

"How dare you insult the man you love!" cried Hotaka in mock horror. "You pathetic fool, thinking I would just simple _forget_ about you. Because, you see, this time it's not just you but your _daughter_ as well."

Katsumi's eyes went wide as she realized what he meant and she hoped that wherever Yoshiko was… she could take care of herself.

'She's Kane's daughter,' thought Katsumi. 'She'll be fine…'

* * *

It was quite infuriating to have a hold of somebody one second and to suddenly… not. Come on! She was holding onto Katsumi's arm. Tightly. How could she suddenly be in some dark cave _without_ Katsumi? Yoshiko sighed, figuring this was Hotaka's idea of having fun. It was sick. Okay, maybe if she was evil she might find this fun. But from this side of things it was so _not_ fun.

The cave was nothing special really. In fact, it didn't really look like much of a cave. The walls were dark and slimy looking but far too flat to be made out of rocks. Yoshiko looked around, trying to get her bearings, but even her extraordinary eyesight could barely see a thing. In fact, you could hardly tell there was even a ceiling. Again she sighed, searching for a way out of here. But when none opened up for her she decided to feel the walls for one. She had felt her way around three of the walls when she finally found something: something round and smooth coming out of the wall. As soon as she touched it she felt it turn and a door swung outwards. It wasn't anything Yoshiko had seen before. But she was sure Hotaka had been to more places and seen more things than she ever would.

Taking a deep breath Yoshiko stepped out through the door. In the center of the next room was a great pillar of purple light. She tried to see where it was going but it was so bright she had to turn her eyes away. Noticing other door handles like the one she had just found she rushed to the next door over and wrenched it open. Not that it was necessary. The door was already opening as soon as she touched the door handle. Cautiously she took a step inside but it was no good. The door slammed shut behind her. Another purple column of light was inside this room, but it wasn't as bright. This one was darker and if she listened closely, Yoshiko thought she heard voices. When she stepped closer she saw there was a person hanging in it.

"Katsumi?" cried Yoshiko, more in surprise than worry.

She reached out a hand to grab the tiger demon but the purple pillar deflected her hand. At the same time tendrils of black smoke reached out to grab her. Yoshiko quickly stepped away, taking a deep breath, and trying to figure out a different approach. There really seemed no reason but she wanted to save this woman. When she probably should be out there looking for her other friends, a way to get out or Hotaka she wanted to save a woman that had abandoned her as a child. Leaving her father moody, depressed and broken hearted.

'Then again, it's not like I haven't done the same before,' thought Yoshiko, as she searched the room for something to get her out. Though this room was more brightly lit than her own she still saw little.

Sighing yet again, Yoshiko pulled out her dagger, twirling it needlessly and stepped closer to the pillar. When the dark smoke didn't try to engulf her she went closer… and then closer again. Finally she was standing right in front of the woman. Yoshiko saw Katsumi's mouth moving as if she was muttering to somebody. When her mouth stopped moving Yoshiko heard another voice answer. But they were so muffled she couldn't hear what was being said. So ignoring the sounds she touched the end of her dagger against the purple light.

At first nothing happened. But slowly Yoshiko was able to sink the blade in. Then she was cutting an opening and pulling Katsumi out. She had hoped that when the tiger demon had been pulled out she would wake from whatever dream she was in. But it didn't happen. Instead the woman started muttering more and more, tears starting to trail down her cheeks. Her eyes opened yet she wasn't looking at Yoshiko, she was looking past her. She looked over her shoulder and saw nobody.

"Katsumi?" Yoshiko said, unsure of what else to do. No change. "Katsumi!" This time she started to shake the woman.

When still nothing happened besides yet even more muttering Yoshiko started to get desperate. She recalled a time when her stepmother had a very bad cold and spent half the time talking to people who weren't really there. Since her father was away Yoshiko had to take care of her. Actually, it was more of Godric that took of her but Yoshiko still attempted to help. But one night the woman woke up muttered nonstop though, it looked like she was still asleep. Yoshiko had wanted to go get the doctor but Godric said that if she did it would worry Father. So she watched as her little brother tried to calm his mother down. She wanted to do _something_ but there really seemed like nothing to do.

An hour passed and no change came over her stepmother as she continued to babble at thin air. During that hour Yoshiko saw something she'd never really seen from her brother before: he was scared. She was about to rush in and attempt to save him from this newfound emotion when he started shaking his mother. At first what he muttered was incoherent. He was whispering sharply. Till finally it seemed he lost all thoughts and was yelling.

"Mommy? Stop it, Mommy! You're scaring me!"

Though most of the rest of the evening faded from her mind Yoshiko still recalled a little boy frightened because he thought he was going to lose his mother. For a few seconds she wondered if maybe Hotaka had some cause in her stepmother's death. But that thought was soon turned out as she tried to figure out what to do about Katsumi. Shaking her was doing very little. In fact, it seemed to make it worse. Not even yelling was doing much of any good. She wouldn't even respond to her own name. Finally Yoshiko tried something she had never done before.

"Mom… Mom?" she tried, quietly at first. But still Katsumi made no response, except more tears feel down her cheeks. "Damn it, Mom! Snap out of it!" Yoshiko snapped, slapping Katsumi on the cheek.

The woman looked to the side, blinking a couple of times. Her tears had stopped and her mouth closed slowly as she took a deep breath. One of her hands reached up to her red cheek as she slowly looked at Yoshiko. The half-demon was staring at Katsumi expectantly and her eyes went wide in surprise and relief. Their eyes finally locked and yet again tears feel down the tiger demon's face. But this time Yoshiko knew she was seeing her so she hugged her mother's head to her chest.

"I'm so sorry… I'm sorry…" muttered Katsumi through her tears. "I don't deserve a daughter like you."

Again Yoshiko found her own words reflected in her mother's. But before she could respond to anything she felt rather than saw the room go dark. All she could really see was her weeping mother and herself. Strangely enough their shadows were gray on the black ground. Slowly Yoshiko drew her mother and herself to their feet. A low laugh came from behind her. Katsumi quickly stood up straight, looking over Yoshiko's shoulder in fear.

"How touching," said an awfully familiar voice. Yoshiko's breath caught in her lungs as she felt herself go numb all over. "The family's all back together again!"

More laughing followed as she heard a sword being drawn from a sheath. But Yoshiko found she couldn't move. It was too much to take in. And it couldn't be real. This had to be another one of Hotaka's tricks. Before any of it could sink in she felt herself being shoved off to the side. A glint of a sword rushed past where she use to be and hit Katsumi in the chest. A sad smile was on her face as Yoshiko fell to the ground. She watched as Mother and Father stared at each other each smiling triumphantly but for different reasons. Yet Yoshiko still couldn't take in the fact that her father, of all people, had come back to life and was now standing with his sword through his wife's chest.

"You lose this round Hotaka," muttered Katsumi and realization finally hit Yoshiko over the head. She was acting like such a big child and all because she finally accepted her mother for what she was. "I still have somebody that loves me. You're little nightmare world no longer has a hold on me."

"So you believe you'll die in peace and go on to see Kane," laughed Hotaka and hearing her father's voice dripping with evil caused Yoshiko to shiver. "You're a bigger fool than I thought you were. I was aiming for you all along."

"You may be able to fool everybody else but I'm no longer falling for your tricks," said Katsumi, her voice starting to get weaker. "You were aiming for Yoshiko but killing me is no lost for you. There's no more fun in playing with me."

"Go to hell!" growled Hotaka, taking the sword out of the woman's chest. As soon as he did it disappeared.

"Not likely," came Katsumi's faint voice.

"Mom?" said Yoshiko, blinking, realizing she hadn't moved since she had fallen to the ground. Quickly she scrambled to her feet. "Mom!"

"Pathetic little girl," snapped Hotaka, turning on her. She shivered when she couldn't see his face but instead saw darkness. "Mommy isn't coming back."

"Damn you, Hotaka," hissed Yoshiko, shaking in her fury. "Damn you straight to hell."

"Been there, done that," sneered Hotaka, reaching up a hand to her forehead. Before Yoshiko could pull away he had pressed a black stone to her forehead. When that happened she felt herself stop moving almost completely. "And I'm afraid that's where you are!"

With that Yoshiko felt a strike of lightning pass through her body from where the black stone was touching her down to her feet. Before she could say a word she felt another dark portal open under her and she was falling again. This time there was nobody to catch her, nobody to hold on to. She was alone in this, a lot like she had been alone almost her entire life.

'Nobody's ever really been there for me…' thought Yoshiko as the outside world fade and she then seemed to fall inside herself.

* * *

Sesshomaru found it a little too familiar as he walked through the trees he had found himself in. Except last time he had been here he recalled InuYasha following him. If he stopped he heard nothing but the wind. He was definitely alone… But then why did he feel like he was being watched? As far as he could tell there was no other living being around. Yet twice now he had thought he'd saw something out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned to catch it in his full view it had disappeared. Finally he reached his destination. At least, he thought it was his destination. It appeared to be the exact location where Yoshiko had died. This time, however, he didn't see anybody when he stepped out into the clearing. He actually sighed in relief.

'This is stupid,' thought Sesshomaru. 'It can't be real so why am I acting like it is?'

For the fifth time he asked himself this and for the fifth time nobody answered. But suddenly he realized how very alone he was. There was no Rin, no Jaken… and definitely no Yoshiko. It really shouldn't have bothered him. Yet it was. Many times he had just wanted to leave them all somewhere and get away. Then without them he thought he actually… missed them. Strange, yet true. Then again so what if a simple imp, a mortal and a half-demon were gone. Why should he care?

"Looking for your friends," said a familiar voice. Sighing, Sesshomaru turned toward the source and put his hand on his sword's hilt. It was then that he noticed something else was missing as well: the Tokijin. "Because you really won't find them around here."

"Then maybe you won't mind telling me where they are," said Sesshomaru, surprised that he was going along with Hotaka's plan.

"I expected you to be the hardest to deal with," said the young boy, sitting in a tree. "Yet you haven't given me much trouble at all. Are you sick?"

"A demon can't get sick," growled Sesshomaru, trying to show he wasn't as weak as this kid was trying to make him out as.

"Oh, yes, I forgot," laughed Hotaka, jumping out of the tree. "But you see, spending forever in hell makes you forget a lot of things."

"If you have nothing better to say I'm leaving," said Sesshomaru, starting to turn away.

"Oh, but I do have something better to say," said Hotaka, coming closer to Sesshomaru. He didn't exactly like this kid closing the distance away so he turned to glare at Hotaka. He stopped. "You see, your little half-tiger friend is a big problem to me. She knows too much, you see, and Kamatari couldn't seem to kill her properly."

Sesshomaru's hand clenched on the hilt of the Tensaiga. The blade may not be able to cut but he could put on a show and make Hotaka think it was an actual sword. Then again, this boy seemed to know an awful lot about him as well. How did he know that Kamatari had killed Yoshiko? More importantly, why did it matter?

'Damn it, I don't like it,' thought Sesshomaru, glaring down at Hotaka. 'What is it that Yoshiko seems to know a whole lot about?'

"Now, I don't exactly blame Kamatari," Hotaka continued, a smirk starting to cross his face. "He just was a fool… a fool who miscalculated. One, he didn't _really_ think a wench that looked like Yoshiko was going to stop you, did he?"

He paused as if he expected Sesshomaru to answer. But Sesshomaru didn't trust himself to answer so he didn't speak. Hotaka's smile widened and he went on.

"Two, who knew you would go to your little brother for advice," sighed Hotaka. "And to think he actually _had_ good advice for you. A half-demon!"

Yet again he stopped, putting his hands on his hips and turning away from Sesshomaru slightly. Hotaka smiled and glanced at Sesshomaru out of the corner of his eye.

"But more importantly, that sword of yours… Well, I don't think I can allow you to keep it," stated Hotaka. "Can't have you bringing _more_ people back from the dead. It just won't work."

* * *

What Sueko saw when she woke up was not what she had expected. She expected to go to some weird dimension that Hotaka had made up, or perhaps back where she had been with the others. But what she did see instead wasn't a bad thing…

"InuYasha?" muttered Sueko, blinking away the sleepiness that was somehow there. But when had she been asleep?

"Well, _now_ you're up!" said InuYasha, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

Sueko looked around her. They were by a forest, but it seemed to be a different forest than before. The trees were different… and the way the slight breeze was hitting her face was odd somehow. She could see the others in the distance chatting and laughing. Except Shippo who had stolen her GameBoy…

Sueko noticed that she was lying on the ground and she sat up quickly, ignoring the lightheadedness she got afterwards.

"Was I really asleep?" asked Sueko, rubbing her head.

"Well, yeah," was InuYasha's answer. "You slept the whole freakin' day away!"

"I did? Oh…" said Sueko, putting her hand back down and blinking a few times. Was meeting Hotaka just something her wild imagination made up? She didn't think so, but didn't feel like arguing with InuYasha. Especially since they just got back together… sort of… um, they were back on speaking terms! Yeah! And she wouldn't want to mess that up…

Thinking of something to do because she found just sitting there staring at InuYasha rather lame, Sueko wandered over to where the others were. Apparently they were eating lunch. She sat next to Yoshiko, who made some remark about her sleeping in but none-of-the-less handed her some food: fish. Sueko could think of a million different foods better than fish but none of them were available here… Modern Day had way better food, and more of a selection!

But thinking of Modern Day made Sueko down on the dumps. How long had it been since she'd been there, going to school and goofing off with Tamika and Keitaro? It felt like months… perhaps it actually was months… Wait, she'd be bound to have to take some sort of exam by then. As much as she hated tests—or school overall, actually—Sueko knew that she probably should go back soon so she could actually catch up with her schoolwork. Either that or her dad would destroy the well in his attempts to drag her back to her time to go to school. Imagining her father doing just that made Sueko giggle slightly.

"What's so funny?" asked Yoshiko curiously before biting into her fish.

"Nothing…" mumbled Sueko, turning slightly pink. She opened her mouth to take a bite but stopped midway. "Um… Yoshiko?" she said timidly.

"What?" asked Yoshiko slowly, sounding a bit worried as to what Sueko wanted.

"Well… it's just that I haven't been home in a really-really-really long time and I was wondering if you could possibly let me go back for just a tiny whittle bit?" said Sueko really fast just to get it out of the way.

"What!" said Yoshiko, sounding overwhelmed.

"I need to go home. Will you let me go or not?"

Yoshiko sighed and closed her eyes, looking in serious thought. After a couple of minutes of this she sighed again and muttered, "I suppose…"

"Really!" cried Sueko, her face brightening and her eyes going wider than usual. She couldn't believe it was this easy…

When Yoshiko just nodded with her eyes closed yet again Sueko cried out and hugged Yoshiko while going, "Yes! Thank you! I promise I'll be back in a week! So don't be too sad! But thank you soooo much!"

"What are you babbling on about?" asked InuYasha boredly while nibbling on his fish. Which Sueko found a bit random because… well, when had he gone over here!

"Uh…" said Sueko, letting go of Yoshiko and trying to think of what to say.

"She wants to go home," said Yoshiko with another sigh.

"You said it was okay!" cried Sueko. "So be happy about it!"

"But I miss you already!" cried Yoshiko.

"It'll only be for a week!" cried Sueko.

"Why should you get to go along home, anyways?" snapped InuYasha.

Sueko sighed. "I have to… like, do homework and stuff. Catch up at school. I've been here for like two freakin' months! Maybe more, I don't feel like doing the math! Just let me go, please! I'll be really quick!"

InuYasha just glared at her. This made Sango sigh and say, "Just let Sueko go home, InuYasha. I think a week from Sueko will not kill you."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" muttered InuYasha darkly.

"Nothing," said Sango sweetly. Then she turned to Sueko and asked, "When are you planning on going?"

"I should probably go like today or something… I have _a lot_ of catching up to do, so the sooner the better," said Sueko.

"If you're not back in _exactly_ seven days I'll push InuYasha down that well myself and make him get you back, you hear!" cried Yoshiko sternly.

"Okay, okay!" said Sueko, holding up her hands in the air sheepishly. "I got it!"

There was a five-minute period where no one else said anything and just ate. Then Sueko, being in an impatient mood, went, "So… am I going to leave or not?"

"You want to go home. So go home," said InuYasha simply. Perhaps he was trying to give her a bad time so she'd change her mind about leaving.

"But I don't know the way to the well!" cried Sueko. "If I went alone then I'd get lost and die or something! And I haven't seen my friends in a while and I miss them… Can somebody just take me home already?"

InuYasha was going to say something but was interrupted by Sango, who said, "Why don't you just take Kirara? She knows the way to the well."

"Is she going to, like, fly me there? Because I don't do well with flying…" said Sueko, turning a bit pink at the thought of her own fear.

"She doesn't have to fly you there," said Sango slowly, "but it would be a lot quicker if she did…"

It was then that Kirara, who had been sitting next to Shippo, quickly got up, yawned, and transformed into her bigger form, as though she could understand what Sango was saying. Sueko had always wondered if the cat was smarter than she thought it was…

"I guess I'm going then…" muttered Sueko.

"You'll be back in a week, you hear?" snapped Yoshiko sternly as Sueko was getting on Kirara.

"I know, I know!" cried Sueko boredly. "Don't kill me about it!"

The ride on Kirara was fairly uneventful. Actually, it was pretty boring… Sueko would have read a book or something to fix her boredom but she was afraid that if she started to read the book she'd fall of Kirara or something. This was way preferable to flying, but Sueko was still nervous about falling down. Having both feet on the ground is always the safe way to go. Less of a chance of getting hurt… unless you trip or something.

Once they got to the Bone Eater's well Sueko wasn't sure of what to do with the cat demon. Would she be able to find her way back to Sango and the others? But before she could think of it much she turned back to the large cat only to find that it was already well on its way back, so perhaps it would be alright on its own. Why should Sueko worry? There was nothing to worry about! Nothing at all! In a few moments she would be in her normal time frame and be back to everything she was used to. So why should she be filled with all these feelings of anxiety?

Sighing, Sueko climbed over the edge of the well and fell through, closing her eyes so the swirl of colors wouldn't give her a headache and trying to remember that the fall wouldn't hurt so the falling feeling shouldn't be so scary. But as she fell her feelings of anxiety and unsureness only grew. What in the hell was she so worried about!

Sueko closed the shrine door in Modern Day, wondering what she should do next; more like waiting for the worried feelings to go away. Then a sudden idea accord to her: if anyone could make her feel as though there wasn't anything to worry about at all, it was Tamika and Keitaro. And maybe she shouldn't go over to their apartment uninvited… but she had done it before and they hadn't minded! And that was in two in the morning… Two in the afternoon had to be alright for them! And they probably missed her just as much as she missed them—actually, they probably missed her more, seeing how Tamika reacts to her coming home…

She dug around in her over-filled book bag, hoping to find some money that just happened to be in there since the last time she was here—God knew she never cleaned her book bag! Or organized it, for that matter… Finding just the right change for the subway, she headed over towards the Hamasaki residents, planting a smile on her face and wishing those feelings of worriment to go way.

Sueko hesitated at the door… not that she knew why… she just felt nervous… What was up with these worried/anxious/nervous feelings? Was she PMSing or something! Because that'd sure explain a lot!

With a sigh and the shake of her head Sueko knocked on the door, ignoring any warnings coming from the back of her head and her gut.

It seemed to take forever for the door to finally be opened, but finally it was opened to reveal the familiar face of Tamika. Sueko almost sighed a sigh of relief until she noticed the frown on Tamika's face.

"Hi!" said Sueko. "Um… is something the matter?"

"It's just—" started Tamika, cutting herself off with a sigh.

Sueko tired to think of something to say but her thoughts were interrupted by a masculine voice going, "Who's at the door, Tamika?"

Keitaro? Surely he'd be able to explain what was wrong with Tamika!

The door was opened from the slight space Tamika was standing into being opened entirely as another person stood in the doorway. Surely enough it was Keitaro, looking grim and tired for some odd reason.

"Keitaro?" said Sueko questionly, but was interrupted by his sigh—apparently everyone was just sighing today!

"It's _you_," said Keitaro gruffly.

This didn't answer Sueko's question at all—in fact, all it did was confuse her even more—but she said anyways with a slight smile, "Well, of course it's _me_! Who else would I be?"

Keitaro sighed again, but at least Sueko got a bit out of it. It was clearly an irritated sigh as though something was annoying him… Was the thing that was irritating him… her?

"What?" said Sueko with a low voice and her eyes narrowing as if to say, "Tell me the truth!"

"Well… _what_?" was all Keitaro said, taking a step forward and saying it with a sly sort of attitude.

Now Sueko was just pissed. She tired to keep her voice down—she was in an apartment building, after all—but still managed to say in a shouting voice, "Keitaro, what the hell is going on!"

When Keitaro didn't say anything Tamika said in a timid voice, "Sueko, why are you here?" It was such a quiet voice and she sounded as though she was about to cry… It hurt Sueko's heart to hear it.

"Well… I came back…" said Sueko in almost the same timid voice as Tamika had, "from Feudal Japan… and, well, I wanted to say hi so… I came. Was I not supposed to?"

"It's just…" started Tamika, but Keitaro cut her off.

"You just leave unexpectantly and then randomly show up here!" snapped Keitaro. "You're gone for months on end without one word or one reason as to going back. Are we not good enough for you or something!"

"That's not it…" started Sueko. But she wasn't even able to explain the fact that she was a Shrine Protector and had a duty to uphold, for Keitaro interrupted her again.

"You've got to make a choice!" said Keitaro sternly with his arms crossed. "Us or Dog-Boy in Feudal Japan?"

"I—I—I don't know!" cried Sueko. "How am I supposed to make a decision like that? How am I supposed to choice between one group of friends and the other!"

"I don't know," said Keitaro with a shrug, "But I'm tired of waiting around for you, Sueko!"

She really didn't know what to say. What was there to say? What she did know was that she was tired of trying not to cry so, finally letting the tears fall down her face, she turned to Tamika and said roughly, "Well, what do you think of all this, Tamika?"

Tamika was looking down at the ground, one arm behind her back as she twirled a chunk of hair around with her finger. She bit her lip and with her eyes closed tightly said, "Just go away!"

But Sueko didn't want to leave. Not just yet, anyways… Couldn't she just close her eyes, open them and find out it was all a dream? Why couldn't Hotaka have been real and this have been only a dream? It wasn't fair! She just wanted to be back in Feudal Japan where Yoshiko could make her feel better but that'd mean loosing Tamika and Keitaro forever…

But if they were making her do something like this then were they worth losing Feudal Japan over?

Without another word Sueko turned around and ran. Just bolted out and left without another word… But even as the tears fell down her face something told her it was going to be alright. Like what she was feeling wasn't real…

What? Not… _real_?

Sueko was running but the apartment hallway seemed to disappear… the tears were still falling down her face but she couldn't recall why… And then suddenly she wasn't running anymore. Suddenly she was feeling her eyes flutter open—when had they been closed?—and seeing someone she least expected to see, and yet knew she'd meet…

"InuYasha?" said Sueko breathlessly—that's what she felt: breathless and lightheaded.

Despite InuYasha's relieved expression he said worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"I don't know…" said Sueko, sitting up. But nope, no weird injuries… not that she noticed while sitting up, that is. Then she asked because she was wondering, "Is this all Hotaka's doing?"

"I think so…" said InuYasha thoughtfully. Then he turned his head back around to Sueko and said, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Didn't I just say 'I don't know' the first time you asked this?" said Sueko with a laugh.

"But…" said InuYasha, hesitating before saying, "You're crying…"

Sueko put a hand to her cheek. So when she had been crying in the… "dream"… she'd been crying for real? How odd… She quickly wiped them away and said with slightly flushed cheeks, "_Had _been crying…"

When she opened her eyes Sueko saw that InuYasha had stood up. She stood up really quickly too, though so quickly she was slightly wobbly when she stood up.

InuYasha wore a slight smile as he said, "Want to try and find the others?"

"Is there anything else to do?" said Sueko with another laugh.

"I guess not… Well, come on then!" said InuYasha, grabbing Sueko's wrist and pulled her along. Sueko laughed again.

* * *

He had no clue where he was going or where he was at all. He had no clue where anyone was and his sense of smell didn't work one bit. This Hotaka sure knew what he was doing… But at least he had found Sueko.

It was strange… they hadn't been walking for ten minutes and then suddenly Sueko had wrapped her arms around InuYasha's neck.

"What the hell are you doing!" cried InuYasha, trying to turn his head to face her.

"I don't know…" said Sueko. "I feel weird… Can't a girl randomly hug someone!"

InuYasha just blinked at her, the heat rising on his face. Her face wasn't exactly pale either. And then, just to make the whole event even worse…

"Well, I didn't know you could be such a softy, InuYasha…"

Sueko let go of InuYasha just as he tired to push her off… With his face extremely red he cried out, "Just what do you think you're doing, monk!"

"Me?" said Miroku. "Trying to find my way out and find everyone else at the same time. But if you want some privacy I can look for Sango and Yoshiko on my own…"

"Sheesh, Miroku, get a life!" cried Shippo from Miroku's shoulder. "No one wants to know what goes on in that head of yours!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about…" muttered Miroku, crossing his arms.

"So… um…" started Sueko, fidgeting her hands, "Sango and Yoshiko are still missing?"

"Yep… and that Katsumi person too," said Miroku.

"Oh yeah… I forgot about her…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"Well, we're not going to find anyone by just standing here," muttered InuYasha, feeling impatient.

"Let's be off, then," said Miroku, giving both Sueko and InuYasha a small push forward.

"Is that absolutely necessary, monk?" muttered InuYasha moodily.

"Don't complain, just move," was all Miroku said.

But the four had barely started walking—well, Shippo wasn't walking so that made three—before hearing the sound of running feet and someone panting. A few moments later the person came to view.

Miroku let go of InuYasha and Sueko. "Sango?" he cried, rushing to the woman's side. Sango looked both tired from the running and distraught.

Sango actually accepted Miroku's embrace as she cried, "I was so worried! I woke up from this… dream thing I thought was real… and no one was there… I thought you had all been killed, and… and…"

Miroku told her not to worry and hugged her tighter. As Sango continued to sob on his shoulder he let go to rub her arms gently, which InuYasha kind of found weird. He also found it weird that he wasn't expecting Miroku to grope Sango's butt like he usually did, yet when he did it InuYasha wasn't weirded out by it... All Sango did was hit him and turn her back to him with her arms crossed and a frown planted on her face. But then suddenly this secretive little smile appeared on her face as Miroku rubbed his sore cheek. Sango seemed to calm down a bit when she turned to InuYasha and Sueko and asked, "Where's Yoshiko?"

"We haven't found her yet," said InuYasha.

"How about we go looking for her, then!" said Sueko, stating the obvious. "And find the exit while we're at it… If there is one…"

The others went along with the idea, though InuYasha couldn't help wondering what thing Hotaka was planning next.


	31. Our Darkest Secrets, Part Two

I'm really sorry but in the last chapter I forgot two really important scenes. So I'm posting them for the next chapter so you don't have to reread a whole bunch of crap… I'm reallyreallyreallyreally-a-million-more-times-really-sorry about this, okay? The first is the Sesshomaru scene with more to it, and the next is the ending of the chapter… And the next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it done, okay? I'm REALLY sorry, okay? Ravyn wasn't writing anything and I thought what we had was all for the chapter… And I didn't edit this so there will be a few grammar/spelling things, but I'm sorry about that too! I just want to fix my stupid mistake and get it over with, okay?

DISCLAIMER: We don't own InuYasha…

* * *

**Sesshomaru scene:**

Sesshomaru found it a little too familiar as he walked through the trees he had found himself in. Except last time he had been here he recalled InuYasha following him. If he stopped he heard nothing but the wind. He was definitely alone… But then why did he feel like he was being watched? As far as he could tell there was no other living being around. Yet twice now he had thought he'd saw something out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned to catch it in his full view it had disappeared. Finally he reached his destination. At least, he thought it was his destination. It appeared to be the exact location where Yoshiko had died. This time, however, he didn't see anybody when he stepped out into the clearing. He actually sighed in relief.

'This is stupid,' thought Sesshomaru. 'It can't be real so why am I acting like it is?'

For the fifth time he asked himself this and for the fifth time nobody answered. But suddenly he realized how very alone he was. There was no Rin, no Jaken… and definitely no Yoshiko. It really shouldn't have bothered him. Yet it was. Many times he had just wanted to leave them all somewhere and get away. Then without them he thought he actually… missed them. Strange, yet true. Then again so what if a simple imp, a mortal and a half-demon were gone. Why should he care?

"Looking for your friends," said a familiar voice. Sighing, Sesshomaru turned toward the source and put his hand on his sword's hilt. It was then that he noticed something else was missing as well: the Tokijin. "Because you really won't find them around here."

"Then maybe you won't mind telling me where they are," said Sesshomaru, surprised that he was going along with Hotaka's plan.

"I expected you to be the hardest to deal with," said the young boy, sitting in a tree. "Yet you haven't given me much trouble at all. Are you sick?"

"A demon can't get sick," growled Sesshomaru, trying to show he wasn't as weak as this kid was trying to make him out as.

"Oh, yes, I forgot," laughed Hotaka, jumping out of the tree. "But you see, spending forever in hell makes you forget a lot of things."

"If you have nothing better to say I'm leaving," said Sesshomaru, starting to turn away.

"Oh, but I do have something better to say," said Hotaka, coming closer to Sesshomaru. He didn't exactly like this kid closing the distance away so he turned to glare at Hotaka. He stopped. "You see, your little half-tiger friend is a big problem to me. She knows too much, you see, and Kamatari couldn't seem to kill her properly."

Sesshomaru's hand clenched on the hilt of the Tensaiga. The blade may not be able to cut but he could put on a show and make Hotaka think it was an actual sword. Then again, this boy seemed to know an awful lot about him as well. How did he know that Kamatari had killed Yoshiko? More importantly, why did it matter?

'Damn it, I don't like it,' thought Sesshomaru, glaring down at Hotaka. 'What is it that Yoshiko seems to know a whole lot about?'

"Now, I don't exactly blame Kamatari," Hotaka continued, a smirk starting to cross his face. "He just was a fool… a fool who miscalculated. One, he didn't _really_ think a wench that looked like Yoshiko was going to stop you, did he?"

He paused as if he expected Sesshomaru to answer. But Sesshomaru didn't trust himself to answer so he didn't speak. Hotaka's smile widened and he went on.

"Two, who knew you would go to your little brother for advice," sighed Hotaka. "And to think he actually _had_ good advice for you. A half-demon!"

Yet again he stopped, putting his hands on his hips and turning away from Sesshomaru slightly. Hotaka smiled and glanced at Sesshomaru out of the corner of his eye.

"But more importantly, that sword of yours… Well, I don't think I can allow you to keep it," stated Hotaka. "Can't have you bringing _more_ people back from the dead. It just won't work."

At this Sesshomaru decided he had enough of this kid's crap. He reached out to grab the boy's neck but just when he came within a hair's distance Hotaka seemed to fade away and then reappear a foot away. The boy grinned and cocked his head to side as if expecting Sesshomaru to praise him. This only caused to annoy Sesshomaru further. Before he could try again, though, the Tensaiga flew out of it's sheath and into Hotaka's out stretched hand.

"Since you're being quite impatient I'll get things rolling," sighed Hotaka, holding the sword up in the air as if catching the light. Which was impossible seeing as it was night. Then he brought it down hard on the ground, breaking it cleanly in half, and the tip launched off. "There, now you can't bring her back again."

"What have you done to her?" growled Sesshomaru, cracking his knuckles.

"What I've been trying to do to her since I heard about her," said Hotaka, rolling his eyes. "An old man couldn't kill her and Kamatari couldn't do it right so I guess if you want to get something done right you have to do it yourself."

The old man that had controlled the blue ogre popped into Sesshomaru's head. There had been a lot of dark energy then and the focus had definitely be Yoshiko, though he had not noticed this back then. So it seemed that Hotaka had had a part in their lives long before they realized it. But no sooner had these thoughts gone through his mind, he suddenly became frightened. Lord Sesshomaru was frightened, and not for his own life. No, he was frightened that he may actually lose her, something he hadn't had to worry about because of the Tensaiga. Without it he suddenly felt naked and unprotected.

"Well I have better things to do then watch you drown in misery," said Hotaka, glancing up at the moon as if to check the time. "I'll tell her you were worried. But you realize there is more than one way to lose someone you care about."

Before Sesshomaru could say or do anything Hotaka disappeared in a flash on black flames. Lying in his place was Yoshiko, bleeding and pale.

* * *

**End of Chapter:**

It was like waking from a deep nightmare when she opened her eyes. She found herself floating in a vacuum with no noise to speak of. It felt like pressure was coming in every direction and yet she didn't feel crushed. But slowly the inky blackness changed to a dark purple. This soon became slightly transparent and she could make out the glass container that trapped her and beyond that, a room. But before she could try and make a move to escape, the glass started reflecting her.

Her reflection, at first, resembled her. Then, as Yoshiko watched, the women in the reflection dropped her gaze and shaded her green eyes with her orange hair. At first Yoshiko thought that was it but then she noticed the claws growing longer on the reflection's hands. Before she could think of anything else about it, the reflection looked up, its eyes shining bright red.

Yoshiko gasped and tried to look away. But she felt paralyzed. Soon a cold laugh echoed through her containment causing her blood to chill.

"Look, Yoshiko, at who you are deep inside," laughed Hotaka. "Fall inside yourself and let the demon take over."

She felt tears tickle the corners of her tears and she tried desperately to look away. As she felt herself start to fall again, a large crash brought her attention from her reflection to the room outside. She gasped again, as Sesshomaru burst through the door and looked around. Spotting her inside the purple beam, he started towards her. Hotaka laughed again.

"Careful, Sesshomaru," he said. "Death isn't the only way to lose a person."

Suddenly she had no control over her body. As Sesshomaru broke the seal keeping her in the purple light, she felt her body tense. Falling to her knees, she gripped tightly at the ground as she felt her claws grown and her fangs sharpen. Though she couldn't see herself, she knew that her eyes were red. She heard Sesshomaru call her name but it sounded like he was calling her through ten feet of pure rock. She tried desperately to talk to him, but her mouth wouldn't open. Before she knew that was happening, she was getting to her feet, drawing her sword and slashing Sesshomaru across the chest.

His armor broke and he stepped back, shocked. He tried yet again to call her name but he realized that Yoshiko could hear him. She slashed at him again, causing his chest to start bleeding. Dropping her sword in frustration, she reached out for him with her claws. He evaded her a couple of time before she scratched his chest a few times. Finally he grabbed her wrist and held her eyes level to him. Her toes were just barely scrapping the ground as she glared at him.

Yet again Yoshiko tried to speak, to tell him to move away. But it was too late. Her left hand reached out, and like a spear, struck Sesshomaru right through the chest. A slight spasm of pain crossed his face as he dropped her and she pulled out her hand. She struck out with her right again. Suddenly a flash of black hair jumped between her and Sesshomaru. She felt a fist collide with her jaw and she went flying left. As quickly as it all started, she finally felt control again. Sitting up slowly and gingerly, she looked down at her blood stained hands.

Standing up quickly, she tried her hardest not to look at them as she turned slowly to face Sesshomaru. He stood there silently, Rheda at his side, watching her… almost worriedly. When her eyes widened a slightly smile crossed his face as his eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground. Rheda reached out to grab him, then turned to Yoshiko as if to make sure she was okay. All around, Rheda looked confused. Yoshiko, at first, looked away. Then as the tears swelled in her eyes she turned around rushed forward.

"Get up!" she cried, dropped to her knees and shaking Sesshomaru gently. "Don't die… please don't die… I need you. I need you!"

She dropped her head onto his back and started sobbing harder than she could remember crying in years. She heard people calling out her name but didn't really recognize who they were or care. Finally she felt a hand grab her upper arm and shake her roughly.

"Get a hold of yourself!" snapped her aunt, her blue eyes blazing. "Crying isn't going to solve anything!"

Just then InuYasha, Sueko, Miroku and Sango all entered the room and glanced from Rheda, to Yoshiko to Sesshomaru. As if knowing exactly what happened, InuYasha took Yoshiko gently from Sesshomaru to Sueko.

"Here, go clean up," he muttered distractedly.

Sango and Sueko immediately grabbed Yoshiko's arms and took her off. As they walked out of the room, the underground seemed to melt away and they were back in the forest. They heard rushing water and took her off in that direction. Once there, Yoshiko took off her top layer of clothing and let Sango wash it while she cleaned off her hands. Slowly she lowered her hands into the water and watched as it all washed away. But… she would always remember.


	32. The Return Home

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Um, yeah, sorry for the long wait of no update… A lot of small things piling up causing us to take a little longer than we wanted… Hopefully the updates will be coming in much quicker, though I honestly can't say for certain… However, this is kind of a chapter that I would love people to review about because… um… something big happens in it… so even though you probably hate our guts because we never updated, could you try and reply? Thanks. 

One last thing: Uh… I like learned a whole bunch of stuff about the Japanese culture because I get a bit energetic with learning about different cultures… So for your reading pleasure (or annoyance, whichever one ) this post has footnotes to explain anything you might not know. And there are also two paragraphs that contain some form of Japanese characters. I'm awfully sorry if you can't read Japanese characters on your computer, but you should be able to read the post just fine without being too terribly confused. And if all the footnotes annoy the hell outta you, I promise to not do so much next time! And was freakin' up and wouldn't put brakets so teh numbers were seperate from the post... live with it. I fixed it six flippin' times and it still won't work. I won't fix it another million times!

**DISCLAIMER**  
Don't you people know by now? Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha, not me! Or Ravyn… 

InuYasha: Hey, I'm not owned by anyone!

Yeah, yeah, sure…

Sueko: Aren't you forgetting something!

Oh yeah, if it wasn't mentioned in the anime or manga, WE own it!

Sueko: There you go! I feel better now!

InuYasha: Feh.

Yoshiko: Hey, why do those two get to talk and not _me_? Aren't you forgetting about _me_?

Sango & Miroku: Us too!

Shippo: You don't care about us, do you?

WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP! I'm _trying_ to write a disclaimer here!

Ravyn: Hey, don't I get to do anything?

Well, I'm the one who posts the chapters here… and you've never mentioned that you wanted to write the AN and stuff. Why, you wanna?

Ravyn: Nah… OMG, this-character-in-HarryPotter-six-that-we-won't-mention-because-it's-a-huge-spoiler died!

I'm just so cruel, making fun of my friend! Okay, here's fan fic:

* * *

**Chapter Thirty: The Return Home**

Through the fog in her brain as she sat next to Sesshomaru's unconscious form, Yoshiko thought it was strange that nobody had come to bother her; try to cheer her up; just come to watch her so she didn't commit suicide. Coming out of her trance, her gaze shifted over to Sesshomaru's face. Suddenly, she sighed and dropped her head, closing her eyes. Then she started turning around and just as she faced the doorway, InuYasha walked in looking like he was thinking _really_ hard. If it had been any other day, Yoshiko would have joked about it. Instead she just gave a small smile and shook her head. Just then InuYasha noticed her and looked a little surprised. He then tried his hardest to look serious. He managed it pretty well.

"How you doing?" InuYasha asked, putting his hands in his opposite sleeves and looking away.

"Hmmmm..." shrugged Yoshiko, standing up slowly.

There was a pause in which InuYasha thought a bit more. Yoshiko rolled her eyes at him, finding it a bit odd that he would bother trying to think. Usually he just said the first thing that popped into his head and normally it wasn't the nicest thing. Finally she sighed.

"What did Sueko send you for?" she asked.

"Huh?" said InuYasha, looking up. "Oh. No, Sueko didn't send me."

"Okay…"

"Look," said InuYasha, taking a deep breath and dropping his arms to his side. "I understand secluding yourself when one you care about is hurt but… he wouldn't want you to worry so much you just depressed yourself."

"And you would know this… why?" asked Yoshiko quietly, looking away.

"For one, I did the same thing with Kagome and I didn't exactly like myself during that period of time," sighed InuYasha, looking away again. "Plus, if I were him I wouldn't want Sueko to be sad."

Yoshiko gave a small smile and glanced at InuYasha. She almost wanted to tell him all about the legend. Even the parts she hadn't explained before. Mostly the part about it all repeating again and how he might have to lose Sueko. But she also had this feeling that if she did tell him, there would be no chance at all of changing her fate. So, instead, she settled with something simpler.

"Yeah, well you're more human than Sesshomaru."

"That's true," shrugged InuYasha. "But he still cares."

"Oh really," laughed Yoshiko. "You've talked to him recently?"

"You don't have to talk to him to know it," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "And its not like he would say anything of the sort to anyone."

"Whatever," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes and walking out of the hut trying to not look at Sesshomaru.

She had hardly left the hut when someone jumped out of a tree not too far away right in front of her. As the women lifted up her head to shake out her hair, Yoshiko realized that her aunt was glaring at her. Rheda's eyes were a bright shade of green and her hands were in fists as the wind swept her hair out of her face.

"Did I do something?" asked Yoshiko, blinking.

"How could you?" snapped Rheda. "How could you leave her alone?"

"Who are we talking about?" inquired Yoshiko.

"My sister!" screamed Rheda. "You left her alone to die!"

It was like somebody had replaced her blood with ice water. Yoshiko just stood there shaking slightly as she recalled Hotaka stabbing Katsumi through the chest. Though Hotaka had sent her away before she could see what happened, she had had a feeling that Katsumi ha died. Now she knew for sure. Now she didn't even have a mother. Now her only family left was her aunt—an aunt that blamed her for Katsumi's death. And she did necessarily want to make up excuses.

"First it was the stupid human she fell in love with," started Katsumi. "Then they had you and she had even more of a reason to stay. But even after the villagers ran her out she wouldn't come back home! No, she had to go off and be all lonesome so she could watch after you! And now she's dead because of you!"

"Hold on," said InuYasha, stepping forward. "How do you know it was Yoshiko's fault that—"

"Don't," said Yoshiko, putting her hand out to stop InuYasha and stepping closer to Rheda. "None of this is anybody's fault. Least of all yours, Aunt."

Rheda just stood there blinking at her. Yoshiko wasn't sure if it was because of the fact that she turned the tables on her aunt or because she called her "Aunt". Even InuYasha was a little confused and surprised. Sighing, Yoshiko moved closer and set her hand on Rheda's shoulder.

"I always looked up to my older sister," said Rheda, dropping her head. "She said that we were going to always be together and nothing would bring us apart."

Before anybody knew what was going on, Rheda burst out in tears and flung her arms around Yoshiko's neck. At first she was a little taken aback, but she then settled with patting the women on the back. She was a little surprised to see her aunt's long silky black hair in tangles. Not that her hair was any better.

'_I really need to cut my hair,'_ thought Yoshiko, as Rheda pulled away, wiped her eyes and smiled.

"I don't know what you're doing out here," chuckled the women, seemingly much better. "Isn't Fluffy in there?"

Yoshiko just blinked and raised an eyebrow at her aunt as she started to turn away with a wave. Half way through her hand in the air, she grinned mischievously.

"See ya around… Tora!" she laughed, before running away.

"Wh-what…" said Yoshiko. "Hey! Wait a minute!" she cried.

But Rheda was already long gone.

* * *

It was the middle of spring but it didn't feel like it. The sky was grey, the air chilly, and the mood around her just all around gloomy. But that might have been because of what happened… 

She didn't quite understand what happened. So because she didn't understand she tried to forget and move on, except she couldn't. Even though it didn't exactly pertain to her, she still couldn't forget. But seeing how she knew it was impossible to make Yoshiko happy why'd she bother?

In fact, lately Sueko had been feeling pretty useless. She wasn't good with medicine or finding herbs for people so she couldn't help out with Sesshomaru. And she was pretty sure nothing she did would cheer Yoshiko up so she didn't even try. Besides, Sueko wasn't exactly in the mood to figure out how to cheer really depressed people up. Her head hurt enough with the confusion to tackle that task. It helped she was feeling terribly homesick… But she couldn't leave _now_, nor did she exactly want to until Yoshiko was better…

Maybe that's why she decided to take a walk in the woods to clear her mind. Sueko didn't think it was doing very good mind clearing, though. It just made her more restless.

Perhaps it was because of Sueko's restlessness that when she heard noises behind her, she quickly grew alert and pulled her sword out of her sheath. When the noises grew louder and closer she turned around quickly with her sword in front of her and cried, "Show yourself!"

The rustling stopped for a moment, then continued, until suddenly the branches of the tree moved away by the source of the noise so Sueko could finally see what it was.

"There. I've shown myself!" said Sango with a smile.

"Oh… uh… hi…" said Sueko sheepishly, putting her sword away just as Miroku showed up behind Sango. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you don't get lost and run into random people," said Miroku sweetly.

"Normally Yoshiko would do this sort of thing," said Sango thoughtfully. "So I guess we're just doing it for her…"

"Oh. Okay then…" said Sueko, putting on a smile. She couldn't think of anything else to say so she just stood there trying to figure it out. But when Sango suddenly wore an expression of surprise and Miroku frowning Sueko turned around to see what they were looking at.

"I know you've ran across her more than once! So why is it that she's still alive?" the woman fifteen feet away said fiercely.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sango.

"She's that lady from before," said Miroku. "The one with the Water Stone."

Sueko vaguely remembered running across someone named Sachiko who asked InuYasha to kill a demon in exchange for one of the Shrine Stones. Was this really the same woman? Sueko was surprised she actually remembered the event after all that had happened with Hotaka.

"I ordered you people to kill her," said Sachiko angrily, "so why is it that she's still alive?"

Now Sueko was remembering one day when she was sitting under a tree with Yoshiko. Suddenly this girl who looked like Kagome showed up demanding that the group hand her the stones. She mentioned this lady… They were sisters…

So Sachiko had actually asked them to kill her sister for her.

"So let me get this straight…" said Sueko, walking forward a few feet and trying to stand as tall as she could. "You're hiring InuYasha to kill your own _sister_? Why kill your own _family_ _member_?"

Sachiko blinked a few times in confusion. Then her eyes narrowed to a glare and she snapped, "How dare you? How can you say those things if you don't understand—"

"Please!" snapped Sueko, putting her hands at her hips. "Okay, so I don't have a sister… But if I did I wouldn't want her _killed_!"

"You're just a little girl!" barked Sachiko. "Some little girl who doesn't understand what I'm talking about! So how about you just—"

Sueko really didn't get why she was being so rude, yelling at this woman she didn't even know that much. Then again, why would Sachiko be yelling at her so much?

Then unexpectedly Sueko felt a breeze go by behind her as if someone was walking past her, while at the same time Sango cried out in surprise. Before she could turn around to see if Sango was okay the answer to her question was solved.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" growled InuYasha, standing in between Sueko and Sachiko with his sword pointing at Sachiko's face. How on earth InuYasha got there so fast Sueko had no clue.

Sachiko didn't look unnerved at all by the sword in her face, just bored. "So, it's you."

"Yes, it's 'me,'" said InuYasha, "Now what in the hell do you want!"

With a slight smile Sachiko slyly pulled a blue stone out of her robes. Sueko's eyes opened wide, wondering what the woman was going to do with it.

"You do realize what these little stones can do, don't you?" Sachiko asked InuYasha, holding the stone close to InuYasha's face.

He looked a little unnerved with the Water Stone in his face. "What rubbish are you spouting!"

"You're only a half demon," said Sachiko. "A half-breed, I believe some people call it…"

"What are you—"

"All you're life you've been pushed around," continued Sachiko coolly. "Too weak to be a demon but too dangerous to be with humans. You were probably one of the many demons after the Shikon Jewel, just so you could use the stones powers to become a full demon. Perhaps that's why you're following these people around, so you can collect all the stones to become full demon…?"

"That… That's not true!" cried InuYasha, pushing the Tetsusaiga closer to Sachiko's face.

"Perhaps not…" said Sachiko, tossing the stone teasingly from one hand to the other. "But do you realize that with all the stones anything you ever wanted could come true—anything at all? Like… resurrecting the dead?"

Without another second to waste InuYasha pounced at Sachiko, swinging his sword blindly. With a laugh Sachiko dodged the attacks swiftly, and even had time to pull out a bow and arrow and, in what seemed like seconds, had pinned InuYasha to a tree.

"She may be my sister by blood," said Sachiko coolly, putting the bow and arrow away, "but to me she's not family at all."

"What does this have to do with anything!" cried InuYasha, trying to yank the arrows out that kept him stuck to the tree.

"Five years ago she sold herself to a demon," said Sachiko darkly. "Ever since then her soul has been tainted with evil."

"Wait, wait, wait!" cried Sueko, shaking her head and waving her arms to slow it all down. "Just because you're a demon doesn't mean your evil. It's your actions that determine who you are, not _what_ you are… Like…um…" Sueko hesitated, turning a bit pink and fidgeting with her hands. "All right! I'll admit it! Sesshomaru's not really that much of a jerk… at least not lately… Okay, the point is that demons like Sesshomaru can be good if they want to! So…um…yeah…"

"Are you done now?" asked Sachiko tiredly. Then she turned to InuYasha and said, "I still expect you to do your job. So I'll come back in a few weeks to see if it has been accomplished."

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled InuYasha, finally managing to get the arrows off of him, and getting back on his feet.

"Oh my, I guess my archery is a bit lamer than usual," said Sachiko, turning an ever so slightly pink. The color looked weird on her pale skin.

"Feh," said InuYasha, walking back to camp. Sachiko left in the other direction, and the other three were left standing there, a bit confused. Then suddenly they heard Yoshiko scream and they rushed back toward camp to see if she was all right.

* * *

She knew very well that everybody else was sleeping outside to give her some space. And that they were probably much more comfortable spread out over the ground in the fresh air anyways. But still, Yoshiko felt a little guilty. Sueko brought her some food before going to bed but didn't say a word. She found this a bit odd. Then again, nobody really did talk to her. Not since InuYasha talked to her that morning and her aunt had left. Since then she had been alone in the dark, just talking to Sesshomaru's unconscious form. 

"You know, I could wait here forever," she said, as she knelt beside him, her hands clenched on her knees. "But, you probably wouldn't want that. And I wouldn't be able to take care of Rin, or spend time with my friends."

Yoshiko paused and sighed. She was wearing her undergarments to her kimono. They had been stained slightly but Sesshomaru's blood, but you could hardly tell since blood is red and the clothes were purple. But still, she knew, that she would need to get rid of them soon. And she would definitely need some new clothes. Then with a small smile she looked back at Sesshomaru.

"It's been a while since I admitted it to anyone," Yoshiko said softly. "But I did tell Sango that if it was my last chance I would tell you. So, I love you… Despite that, though, I can't wait around forever for you to wake up. I also don't want to live knowing that we're together and I always afraid that I'll lose you. With that said, I'm leaving now… Cause I'm not waiting around for you anymore."

Then, taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and started to turn toward the exit. Just as she was about to take one step a hand closed around her wrist. With a gasp of surprise she glanced down and saw Sesshomaru staring up at her seriously. Yoshiko's gaze blurred and she turned it toward the wall and she slumped down into a kneeling position again. The hand did not loosen its grip as she shakily turned her gaze back toward Sesshomaru, wondering how much he had heard. Tears sprung to her eyes and the hand, instead, went up to wipe away a couple.

"It wasn't your fault," he said quietly.

"Get down to the point, don't you?" laughed Yoshiko.

And before she could stop herself, she was sobbing with her head on Sesshomaru's shoulder. For a split second she recalled the fact that he didn't have his shirt on because of the bandages. She soon pushed this out of her mind. Nothing was said as Yoshiko cried and Sesshomaru lay there with his hand on her back. She wasn't sure who fell asleep first but when she woke up, they were in the same position.

Smiling, Yoshiko slipped out quietly and slipped on her dress that Sueko had given her for Christmas (the one that resembled Sango's pink one, though this one in purple), glancing over her shoulder just in case Sesshomaru should wake up. Him seeing her naked wasn't on her list of things to do today. Birds were singing as she walked out of the hut, met with blinding light. When she could see again, she stepped out the rest of the way and looked around. Seeing nobody, she was just thinking about looking for them when a familiar noise caught her ears. Right away her good mood evaporated as Koga came running toward her and grabbed her hands in both of his.

"How are you doing my—" Koga started before Yoshiko had hit him over the head. He fell to the ground and she stood over him, hands on her hips and feet spread wide. Big mistake. "Wow… Has anyone told you, you have very nice legs?" asked Koga, sitting up.

With that, Yoshiko let out a half shriek half scream, as she kicked Koga as far as she could and blushed furiously. Just then Sesshomaru came rushing out of the hut, hand on his sword hilt. A few seconds later, InuYasha arrived with his sword drawn. Sueko, Sango and Miroku all soon caught up. This caused Yoshiko to blush a darker shade of red, especially since she noticed that Sesshomaru wasn't wearing his shirt _but_ had taken off his bandages.

"Ack!" cried Yoshiko, slapping her hands on her cheeks. "I'm fine! Leave me alone!"

"Ow, that hurt!" said Koga, gingerly getting to his feet. "You not only have nice looking legs, but strong ones too."

Blushing harder than ever, Yoshiko dropped her hands into fist and leaned forward so to look angrier.

"Koga! You immature, pigheaded, possessive, pervert! YOU'RE WORSE THAN MIROKU!" she shouted.

Koga laughed guiltily, put a hand behind his head and took a step back. Yoshiko was still in the same position when Miroku walked toward her.

"But he is right, you do have nice legs…" he said thoughtfully, reaching out and feeling her butt.

With another scream of rage she grabbed Sango's large boomerang (which nobody was exactly sure how she accomplished) and swung it around hard, hitting Miroku over the head and almost knocking him unconscious. How come he didn't was also a mystery as he stumbled backwards and fell down. Breathing heavily, Yoshiko stood up straight and turned away. When she did, she noticed Sesshomaru shake his head and walk back into the hut. When he emerged he was putting on his shirt. Quickly, Sango separated Yoshiko from the large dangerous object.

"I'm sorry, Sueko," fumed Yoshiko. "I love the dress, I really do, but with men like _these_," she pointed at Koga and Miroku, "around, I am unable to wear it!"

"That's all well and good," said InuYasha, sheathing his sword. "But what _are_ you going to wear?"

"There's a village near by that I'm sure will be more than happy to give me another kimono," said Yoshiko, feeling that she was still blushing.

"I thought you didn't like villages," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes. "You avoided them as much as you could."

"But this isn't an ordinary village," said Yoshiko patiently, keeping a wary eye on Koga. "See, they deal with demons a lot and I use to live there for a while. That's where I met Raoul."

She said this in such an off-handed way Yoshiko was a little uncertain as to whether she said it. In fact, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure somebody else hadn't said it. Not only was she surprised, but also Sango, Sueko and InuYasha all looked a little surprised. Sesshomaru, however, had no idea what she was talking about and only looked baffled. Before anything could be said to her remark, a small figure burst out of the trees and collided with Yoshiko's midriff crying out "Lady Yoshiko!"

It was quite clear whom the small figure was when Yoshiko landed smartly on her butt and saw the top of Rin's definite head. Her little ponytail was in danger of falling it and it was very obvious she hadn't brushed in a couple of days. With a smile, Yoshiko put her hand on Rin's head and looked up, seeing her aunt leaning next to a tree. Seeing that her charge was in good hands, she gave a wave and started to walk away. Then she looked as if she forgot something and turned back around. Before she could say a word, Yoshiko spoke good-bye.

"So much for your dramatic exit," she said. "Leaving without anyone knowing you had even been here."

"Aunt Rheda has been telling us stories," said Rin, looking up with a large grin on her face. Yoshiko had half expected her to be crying. "It makes me wonder why you don't like her. She's an awfully nice person… even if she is a demon."

"You're a strange child," laughed Yoshiko. "You spend most of your time with demons and are rarely afraid of any that don't attack you."

"Well, you're not a demon," said Rin indignantly. "You're only half!"

"That's right, I'm only half," muttered Yoshiko, gingerly getting to her feet, though feeling a small bruise forming on her rear already. "So you have her calling you Aunt as well?"

"It's better than her going around dubbing me 'Lady' or 'Miss,'" shrugged Rheda. "You know how much I hate that."

"Uh huh… You just enjoy it," laughed Yoshiko. "You just miss _me_ calling you "Auntie" and thought to have Rin do it instead. How's it working out for you?"

"Quite well, actually," said Rheda thoughtfully. "Anyways, I just came back to try and talk you into telling everybody about your second name as with Hotaka around it may become useful."

"Or," said Yoshiko sternly. "It could prove to be dangerous. What if Hotaka hears about it? Or he—"

"He possesses you again and I'm not around to give you a good whack over the head again? Which I enjoyed immensely, may I point out," said Rheda, examining her fingernails. "Or he gets smarter and thinks of a way of possessing you that hitting you over the head _won't_ break it? Either way, your very good _friends_ ought to know your secret name because it could prove to more helpful than dangerous."

"Well… um…. I… I guess…" stuttered Yoshiko, knowing full well that the only people here that didn't know it was Sesshomaru and Rin. But telling them seemed harder than telling her friends. Because…

'_They're more family like… I guess…'_ thought Yoshiko.

"So we just have to agree not to go around yelling out that your second name is Tora, correct?" said InuYasha, as if trying to save her from having to tell everybody.

"When did you get so clever?" blinked Yoshiko, turning toward him.

Behind her she heard a couple of whispered words and when she turned back around a small wind blew her hair into her face. When she could see again, Koga and her aunt were gone. Suddenly, rushing out of the tree, came Jaken followed by Aun. Yoshiko's eyes went wide. With an evil smile on, she walked over and picked Jaken up by the back of his kimono.

"Jaken! I missed you soooo much!" cried Yoshiko, a mad glint in her eye.

"I… um… well that is to say… PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" cried Jaken, throwing his arms up over his head, closing his eyes and looking away.

Yoshiko raised her other hand, ready to hit him. Then, seeing how pathetic he looked, she rolled her eyes and dropped him. Carefully, Jaken opened out eye and looked up. Seeing that Yoshiko was sighing, crossing her arms and turned away, he also gave a sigh and sat up.

"That's a relief," he said, wiping his forehead.

"I guess I was serious when I said I missed you…" muttered Yoshiko grudgingly. Jaken looked up at her suddenly, eyes wide and misty. She glared down at him. "Don't you got getting any ideas, imp! This half-demon can still whip you're butt!"

"Yes!" said Jaken, getting on all fours and bowing. "Yes, yes, yes ma'am! From now on I'm going to respect you with every fiber in my body!"

"I look like I care," said Yoshiko. "And of course I won't hold you to that. I can't expect a whole lot of demons to still respect me when I become human."

"What do you mean 'when?'" snapped InuYasha.

"Well, that's what I plan to do with all the stones once he gather them up," said Yoshiko. "And at least it won't be a waste for all of you, because you can get a wish or two as well. At least, as many as… er… the shrine is willing to spare energy to fulfill. So I _guess_ you could become full demon as well, InuYasha… Not that you should expect me to respect you in the least. And I'll still be able to beat you up!"

"Oh yeah right!" cried InuYasha.

"What? Your as weak as they come!"

"But I'm only half-demon."

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"You only beat me once."

"Twice. I beat you the first time I met you and then the first half moon that you met me. Really, InuYasha, your as weak as a dandelion during a winter's frost," said Yoshiko. "And you even got a nice club to swing around that does nice magic tricks."

"Don't you dare bring it up," snarled InuYasha.

"What? The fact that if you had learned how to use your sword better Kagome might still be alive?" snapped Yoshiko. "Well, think it out lover boy, it's not just that! Its all those times before that you couldn't protect her that led her to have to take care of herself so she took care of herself and decided that she needed to take of you too and ended up dieing just to save you. Things are far more complicated then you learning to use a sword properly and a little girl that couldn't be saved."

"Kagome was a wonderful women!" shouted InuYasha. "You didn't even know her, so don't you go and insult her."

"I thought you were over her!" yelled Yoshiko.

"I am!" screamed InuYasha. "Its you who seems to not be over that little farmer boy of yours after _years_ and are running little love circles around every other guy you meet."

"Oh…" said Yoshiko evenly, glaring at InuYasha through silted eyes, walking closer. "INUYASHA, I HATE YOU!" she shouted, grabbing Sango's boomerang again, swinging it around once and hitting InuYasha over the head. In a huff, she dropped the weapon and walked off, leaving everybody else thoroughly confused.

* * *

Though she found the sudden trip to the village kind of random Sueko went along with it none of the less, glad to be on her feet again instead of sitting around. Besides, with Sesshomaru awake Yoshiko was happy again… or happier than usual. But Sesshomaru being around was kind of weird. Who could like a guy who just stands there and doesn't say a word, and is so quiet you can barely tell he's there, and then it turns out he was standing right behind you and it freaks you out! 

However, Sueko didn't really want to go to this village. So they were going to get Yoshiko a new kimono… what next? Where else would they go? They had no leads on anything… no new stone to go after, no new… anything. It was almost like Sueko was bored of Feudal Japan… or maybe it was just because she missed things back home. She had been back a few times long enough to grab make-up work that her parents got from school so she wasn't so behind she failed… but that was only for a few minutes…or a few hours, depending on how weird of a mood her mom was. But, even though it was so weird, Sueko kind of _missed_ school… which usually she hated, but ever since she moved to Tokyo it hadn't been so bad. It helped that she actually had friends in this school, seeing how she was around long enough to keep them. Then again, she hadn't been around lately…

She couldn't help remembering that Hotaka dream thing… Sueko knew it was a dream but at the same time realized that something along the sorts could end up happening… without it being that dramatic. She didn't think Keitaro could get that angry with her…

Hopefully…

_Now I just wanna go home _morethought Sueko bitterly. _And what a better time to get homesick, at a time like _this_! Sure, Yoshiko _looks_ happy, but is she really truly over it just yet!_

"SUEKO!"

"What!" cried Sueko, turning around to see who was behind her.

InuYasha was much more preferable than Sesshomaru randomly standing there. It still weirded her out a bit, though.

"You've been standing there for five minutes, just holding your bag's strap! And you've been ignoring me. Are you all right up there?" said InuYasha, poking at his own head.

"Um… yeah…" said Sueko. "Are you sure I've been spacing out for _five_ _minutes_?"

"The thing with spacing out is that you don't keep track of time," said InuYasha, picking up Sueko's book bag for her. "What have you got to think about so much?"

"Nothing much…" said Sueko, looking up at the sky and sighing.

"Stop that!" cried InuYasha, putting his hands on her shoulders and shaking her slightly. "What's the matter with you?"

"God, why do you care so much?" cried Sueko, shaking his hands on her shoulder.

"Well, obviously something's _wrong_! What, you just expect me to ignore that?"

"That's what you normally do!"

"I do not!"

"You do too!"

"Are you going to tell me or not? 'Cause now it's just bugging me…"

"Argh!" cried Sueko, clenching her fists. She was just about to use "Sit!" on the guy when he interrupted her thoughts.

"You're _homesick_, aren't you?"

Sueko blinked a few times. "WHAT?"

"Oh, come on!" snapped, InuYasha. "I noticed it with Kagome all the time! You don't think I wouldn't notice it with _you_?"

"Um… Well…"

"Look, you haven't been home in a while and I'm sure your family misses you," said InuYasha seriously. "So how about you just go home? Nothing important is going on around here."

"But—"

"If Yoshiko decides to go on some suicide mission again I'll get you," said InuYasha with a slight smile. "And I don't think you care that much about Sesshomaru."

"But… but… Oh, fine!" said Sueko, taking her book bag from InuYasha. "God, maybe you're the one who isn't right in the head today!"

"Hmm…" said InuYasha. It actually looked like he was considering the thought seriously.

"Uh…" said Sueko, suddenly feeling very foolish. "Um… InuYasha? Where's the well?"

"Not that far from here," said InuYasha. "Just a few miles that-ah-way," he added with the point of a finger.

"Oh. Okay…" said Sueko, looking to the left of her, which was the direction he had pointed. Turning back, she added, "You sure the others won't miss me?"

But he wasn't there. It looked like he had rushed off to the others, who had already left.

_Why does he have to show up and leave so darn quickly!_ Sueko thought bitterly as she started walking.

It ended up only taking a half an hour to get to where she wanted to go. Which was surprising, seeing how there was so much distance. Without any hesitation she jumped into the well, waiting to fall hard on the surface though she knew the fall wouldn't hurt as much as she anticipated. Falling through a time-warped well was not the easiest thing to get used to…

The first thing she wanted to do once she got to her time frame was just go home and go to sleep—and maybe take a hot bubble bath before—but then that Hotaka dream popped into her head…

"Oh…my…God… I'm so pathetic!" Sueko muttered to herself, hurrying down the steps and walking towards her friends' house. "What is the point in all of this? The dream was obviously _not_ reality so why in the hell do I care so much?"

So Sueko spent yet another half hour walking all the way to Keitaro and Tamika's house, seeing how she had no money for fare. Good thing she was used to walking! But once she was standing right in front of their front door, she couldn't bring herself to knock on it.

Then she noticed the buzzer, which was far easier to push than knock on a door. Yet her finger still hesitated before pushing the buzzer.

_Don't be so nervous!_ Sueko thought. _It's not that big of an issue to stress over!_

Though it was still taking a while for someone to actually answer the door. Just when Sueko expected no one to be home it opened to reveal a sleepy looking Keitaro still in his pajamas.

"Sueko?" said Keitaro, blinking.

"I know…" sighed Sueko. "I should have called first…"

"No!" said Keitaro hurriedly. "Er… I mean, it's okay… I was just surprised, that's all…"

"Oh," said Sueko. "Well, I'll be sure to _not_ surprise you next time!"

Keitaro smiled, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Um… wanna come in?"

"Okay," said Sueko cheerfully, but before she could get all the way inside someone out of the blue hugged her from behind and cried out, "Finally! I've missed you _so_ much! I was just about to go down that well myself, but I suppose that wouldn't have worked…"

"Ta—Tamika?" croaked Sueko, eyes wide.

"Yay, she remembers me!" cried Tamika, spinning Sueko around to face her. "Oh, you're even wearing a skirt! It looks so cute on you! Though you haven't been taking that good of care of your clothes in Feudal Japan…" she added, brushing some dust off of Sueko's red blouse.

"What's in the bag?" asked Sueko, noticing the shopping bag in Tamika's hand.

"No peaking!" snapped Tamika, holding the bag far away from Sueko. "It's your birthday present!"

"But my birthday isn't for another week…" said Sueko. "Wait a second… how do you know when my birthday is? I never told you!"

"Did so!" said Tamika brightly. "I asked you in math class one day…"

"…Which would probably explain why you don't remember the incident," added Keitaro sweetly.

"Math wasn't my greatest subject…" mumbled Sueko.

"Neither is science _or_ Japanese _or _moral studies _or _English… especially English…" said Keitaro, counting the classes with his fingers. 1

"Um…"

"And considering you've missed the first month and a half of school," added Keitaro, "you're in for some _real_ trouble when you get back to school." 2

"Thanks for rubbing it in!" cried Sueko. "But I've come back a few times to get make-up work… plus apparently my dad is donating a bunch of money to the school… so with enough studying in this visit I should make it!"

"I wouldn't count on that…" said Keitaro, shaking his head. "May I suggest yobiko after school?" 3, 5

"_Please_," said Sueko. "My dad might _want_ me to go to college, but does that mean I'm actually going to do so?"

"…What?" said Keitaro, blinking.

"Well…" said Sueko, sighing guiltily, "I do have a job to do in Feudal Japan. So it isn't that much of a future and I don't get paid… It's still my _job_—probably my _destiny_. You might think that's weird but it's something I've got to do…"

"Alright," said Keitaro understandingly, "but juku or yobiko is not a bad idea. It'll help you study for the tests in high school, at least." 4, 5

"Oh!" said Tamika suddenly, finally taking off her shoes and coat and setting the shopping bag down before leaning against the back of the sofa while standing in between Keitaro and Sueko. "How about _you_—" she said, pointing at Keitaro, "—tutor _her_," then pointing at Sueko.

"Huh?" said Sueko.

"Well," said Tamika, shrugging, "Juku and yobiko can get pretty expensive, while this guy's free," she explained, pointing her thumb at Keitaro. "Well, he might pay you something besides _money_…"

"Don't go there!" said Keitaro, waving his hands worriedly.

"I didn't mean _that_!" cried Tamika. "Though _that_ isn't a bad idea…"

"Ugh!" cried Sueko and Keitaro simultaneously.

"Just don't mention _Star Wars_ anywhere near my oniisan," Tamika muttered to Sueko, "or he'll never shut up." 6, 7

"I heard that!"

"Anyways," said Tamika eagerly to Sueko, "what are you planning to do tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" said Sueko. "Go to school? Tomorrow is Monday, right?"

"Yup," said Keitaro, pointing out the fact he was still in his pajamas.

"But tomorrow is _also_ your birthday!" said Tamika. "Come on! Don't tell me you've forgotten!"

"_Tomorrow_?" croaked Sueko. "I thought that was next week!"

"Today's the 21st," said Keitaro matter-of-factly, "so tomorrow would be the 22nd." 8

"Oh… crap…"

"What do you usually do?" asked Tamika helpfully.

"Uh… just dinner with my family," said Sueko with a shrug. "Sometimes go see a movie if there's no school that day. If there's school that day, then go rent a movie or something… Just stuff like that." 9

"No party?" said Tamika.

"I moved around so much I never had friends," said Sueko. "My dad's an only child so no family on that side, and my mom was born in America so her only family is there… plus her brother died so there's only a cousin and a grandmother there. I think there's just a grandfather on my dad's side…"

"How tragic! That's IT!" cried Tamika, standing up tall and clenching her fist up in the air, and even getting a bit teary-eyed. "As your best friend I'll be sure to throw the _best_ surprise party ever, even if it kills me! Even if I get none of my homework done that day. Even if I miss my favorite anime show! Even if the freakin' world blows up, I'll DO IT!"

"Um… Tamika?" said Keitaro timidly. "It's not a surprise party if she knows about it…"

"Oh. Right… I knew that!"

"But there's school tomorrow!" said Sueko. "There'd be no time!"

"Then I'll make time!" snapped Tamika. "Hey! Oniisan!" she added fiercely, turning to Keitaro and pointing an accusing finger at him. "You didn't even get her a present yet! What kind of friend are you, anyways!"

"I-I did too!" cried Keitaro.

"Oh yeah? When then?"

"Friday! After school! I told you to go on right ahead and I got something! God, are you happy now?"

"Yup!" said Tamika happily. "Wait, now I have to bug Akio…"

"Akio?" said Sueko. "He'd probably get me something weird…"

"Nonsense!" said Tamika. "Besides, he's coming to our birthday party, so why not yours?"

"Oh, is your birthday coming up soon?" asked Sueko.

"The 27th. This Saturday," said Keitaro matter-of-factly.

"How convenient," said Sueko. "We only get half a day of school on Saturday. Why can't my birthday be on a Saturday? Or a Sunday at the very least?" 10

"In 2004 it'll be on a Saturday, if that's any help to you?" said Keitaro. 11

"Where do you get this stuff?" asked Sueko.

"Internet!"

"With a test coming up in history I guess it's out of the question to actually throw a party tomorrow…" said Tamika thoughtfully, "so I guess we'll just have to do something simple that won't take up too much time…"

"How about we all eat together and then I go home and watch a movie," said Sueko. "There! Both birthday traditions are fulfilled!"

"What kind of food do you like, then?" asked Tamika.

"Chocolate?" said Sueko brightly.

"That won't do," said Keitaro. "A whole entire meal of _chocolate_?"

"What? I like the idea!" said Sueko.

"There's no restaurants in Tokyo that serve just chocolate!" said Tamika.

"True…"

"Let's see… It depends on what you're in the mood for. Seafood, ramen, pork, chicken, beef… or are you in the mood for American or Italian food or…"

"Italian's okay…" said Sueko thoughtfully. "Same with American… not really in a ramen mood… Oh, I don't know…"

"I hear a restaurant down the street a few miles serves really good sweet potatoes," said Keitaro.

"I'd rather go with something simple…" said Sueko.

"A potato _is_ simple…" muttered Keitaro.

"Okay, I have it figured out now," said Tamika. "I'll just surprise you! How does that sound?"

"Now I'm worried…" said Sueko.

"And the check's on me, k?" said Tamika. "So no need to worry about cost!"

"You don't have to pay for it!" cried Sueko worriedly.

"It's your birthday!" cried Tamika. "Loosen up! Oh, by-the-way, I gotta discuss something with you, so if you'd excuse me…"

Before she could do anything about it Sueko found herself being dragged away to Tamika's room.

"What are you doing?" cried Keitaro, hastening over to Tamika's side.

"Out, out, OUT!" cried Tamika, pushing Keitaro out of the bedroom he had walked into when following the two girls. "This is _girl_ stuff! No boys allowed!"

"Fine…" muttered Keitaro just as Tamika slammed the door.

"I haven't experienced this much energy in _days_," sighed Sueko, collapsing on Tamika's bed and dropping the book bag on the floor.

"Hey Sueko?" said Tamika innocently, laying down on the bed beside her and leaning her head on her hand.

"What?" asked Sueko, turning around so she could see her face.

"You know that Feudal Japan guy?" she said. "The one with the doggy ears?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you still have feelings for him?"

"WHAT?" cried Sueko, sitting right up as her face turned bright red. "What made you think _that_?"

"I was just wondering," said Tamika, sitting up also. "Didn't you have a fight with him before you came here last time?"

Sueko suddenly remembered that night, when she had thought InuYasha had been two-timing her. Except he wasn't and she was just insanely jumping to conclusions…

"Oh… _that_ was just a huge misunderstanding. It turned out to be some bad guy—I mean, bad _girl_—who can shape-shift and was trying to trick us. So nothing actually really happened…" said Sueko.

"Oh…" said Tamika. She sounded a little disappointed. "So you're back together with him?"

"What's the big deal?" cried Sueko, turning pink again. "So what if I like him, and he might possibility, perhaps, _maybe_ like me too…" She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Why do you care so much? Do you have a crush on him!"

"No!" said Tamika. "He's not my type!"

"Good…" said Sueko, feeling relieved. "Because I don't think you're his type either. Not that I know his type… Oh, I give up!" And she slumped back down to a laying position on the bed.

"Um… I do have a reason for asking… and with that answer I don't think you'll like it…" said Tamika, suddenly sounding both serious and guilty all at once.

"What?" asked Sueko.

"It's just… um… I…" Tamika closed her eyes and said all in a rush, "I think my oniisan might like you!"

"Huh?" said Sueko, slowly sitting back down and blinking.

"I don't know…" said Tamika with a sigh. "Sometimes he acted a bit… out of character… whenever you were around the last time you were here. I didn't really get it then. But then when you called to say you were going back to Feudal Japan because something came up that was really important, he bolted out of the apartment like there had been some big accident. I didn't really get it then either. But then after you left he acted all tired and gloomy all the time, which really doesn't make any sense with Keitaro. When he's tired he's just all sleepy and kinda stupid, not cranky. So then I was trying to figure out what would bug him so much. And then I fit it all together!" she cried suddenly, clapping her hands together.

"So what was bugging him?" said Sueko, kind of knowing the answer and sort of not… like when a word is on the tip of your tongue but you just can't remember what the word was.

"_You_," said Tamika, poking Sueko's forehead for clarity.

"So…"

"He likes you!" said Tamika exasperatedly.

"Well, I got that part!" snapped Sueko. Then she took a deep breath. "Are you sure?"

"I might need to make more observation to make sure… But I'm pretty sure, yes," said Tamika seriously.

"But… But I don't like him in that way!" cried Sueko.

"I _know_!" cried Tamika. "Which is why we have a dilemma."

"Oh God… What am I supposed to do?"

"You're going to have to tell him somehow…"

"I know…" moaned Sueko, covering her face with her hands.

But how on earth can you tell your own friend that you had to break their heart?

* * *

The start of the journey was extremely uncomfortable. Not only did Sesshomaru never speak, but also Yoshiko and InuYasha weren't speaking. Also Rin was sullen, Miroku still a little stunned and Sango was keeping her distance. She kept glancing at Yoshiko pointedly. Finally, the half tiger demon sighed, stopped and turned toward InuYasha. The rest of the ground paused. 

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "What I said about you and Kagome was mean."

"Yeah. And…" said InuYasha.

"And what?" cried Yoshiko. "I apologized. What more do you want?"

"Well, nothing, really," shrugged InuYasha. "I just, you know, _expected_ more. Like, some snide remark like 'but you deserved it' or something."

"Just because _you_ would…" said Yoshiko airily, turning to walk away.

"Now what is that supposed to mean?" cried InuYasha heatedly.

"How about we refrain from starting any more petty arguments," said Sesshomaru, though he only sounded amused.

"It's just a friendly argument," giggled Yoshiko. "Don't sweat it… Fluffy."

Sesshomaru merely raised an eyebrow at her in an annoyed gesture. But far from caring she didn't even notice. In fact, the one thing Yoshiko _had_ noticed was that something was missing. A some_one_ to be exact. She spent a minute too look for her. But when the someone didn't spring out of the ground, Yoshiko rounded on InuYasha with a hard expression on her face.

"Where's Sueko?" she snapped.

"What?" said InuYasha, who had been looking at Sesshomaru uneasily but wrenched his gaze away to look at Yoshiko.

"Where's Sueko?" screamed Yoshiko.

"Oh. She went home," said InuYasha passively. At once everybody else seemed to realize that this was the wrong thing to say. But InuYasha only got it when Yoshiko shouted: "She WHAT?"

InuYasha took a step back with the air of a man that obviously wanted to be as far away as possible. He glanced from Miroku to Sango for support. But Sango just shook her head sadly at the poor half-demon. Realizing that he was on his own, InuYasha took a minute to think it out, though he knew he was far past the chance to redeem himself.

"I noticed that she was looking very homesick and thought that since you weren't as depressed anymore it would be safe for her to go back home for three day," said InuYasha, putting his hands in his opposite sleeves and turning away. "I don't get the big deal, since we're going to your old village and you'll be perfectly preoccupied and… and…"

He faltered for Yoshiko's face was growing in intensity. But when she spoke it was in a calm voice that didn't match her furious facial expression.

"You mean to tell me, InuYasha, that you sent her to the well, when there are demons out there that would love to see her dead including Hotaka, alone?" said Yoshiko. "AND IF SHE DOESN'T COME BACK IN THREE DAYS I'M GOING TO SHOVE YOU DOWN THAT WELL AND AREN'T LETTING YOU OUT UNTIL SUEKO COMES BACK WITH YOU! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Very clear…" whined InuYasha in such a small voice they could hardly hear him.

"Now that that is settled," said Yoshiko, turning around and putting a hand above her eyes. She then pointed slightly North West. "It's that way!"

"The well?" said Shippo, who was cowering behind Sango.

"No, silly," said Rin, who seemed undisturbed by Yoshiko's yelling match and grabbed the half-demon's hand instead. "Her village."

"Oh… I knew that!"

* * *

The rest of the trip took only an hour. By the time they reached the village, however, the sun was starting to set. The most conversation to be heard was between Rin and Shippo who were happily enjoying each other's company. Yoshiko exchanged a few words but this only started Shippo on a rant about her and InuYasha liking each other because they acted so much like Kagome and InuYasha. This was brought to a halt when Rin said, in her innocent way, that it couldn't happen because she was going to stay with Sesshomaru forever and Yoshiko was going to be her mommy. There was no way that Yoshiko could get together with InuYasha. Yoshiko seemed to be the only one uncomfortable but Sesshomaru did almost noticeably drift away from the group a little bit more and not meet anyone's gaze. 

Finally they stepped into a small clearing and recognition chased out any embarrassment on Yoshiko's face. A small half finished hut sat in the middle. She gave a little nod and was about to leave when arms wrapped around her neck and almost pulled her backwards. A familiar laugh filled her ears as Yoshiko disentangled the arms and turned around to face the little girl. She was about two heads taller than Rin and looked like she had a black eye. Other than that, Nana looked perfectly healthy.

"I wondered when you were going to show up again!" laughed the girl, rushing off towards the village. "I'll tell grandfather that you're coming. Oh, they'll be so happy!"

"No, wait!" cried Yoshiko. "I don't want a welcoming committee…"

"Far better reception that at your home village," pointed out Sango. "And she almost reminds me of Utako."

"She's younger though," said Yoshiko to nobody in particular. "Well, let's go see the worse of it."

"Odd place to have a grave," said Miroku, bowing in front of the hut. "Do you know who's it is?"

"Yeah," said Yoshiko, walking off. "He was almost my husband and we were going to live here."

Nobody made a comment and she gave no better explanation. In fact the only people that looked slightly baffled were Shippo and Rin. Even Sesshomaru seemed to understand and this only made Yoshiko feel uneasy. Until, of course, she remembered that Rheda had been telling him all sorts of stories about her past. As they emerged out of the trees onto a small hill covered in small yellow and white flowers, Yoshiko looked down upon the little farms stretching out into the village where already people were gathering. With a grim smile, Yoshiko headed down and as soon as the group entered the village, the welcoming party surrounded them.

"Out of the way! Let me through! Excuse me!"

There were obvious signs that people were moving out of the way but the head of the person moving through the crowd couldn't be spotted. Eventually the people in front of Yoshiko parted and out came a rather short wide old man with a scraggly short wide beard and curly grey hair that still showed signs of being browns in the past. Little blue eyes peered out from underneath very bushy eyebrows and a crinkly smile spread across his face, wrinkling his baggy cheeks further than they already wrinkled.

"There you are! It's so good to see you again, Yoshiko!" he said, opening up his arms wide as if to sweep her up in a hug, though he hardly reached her navel. But he didn't exactly look surprised or hurt when she didn't hug him.

"Oh god…" she muttered, then she hitched up a smile. "Hello Ringo! Still alive, I see."

"Of course! It's going to take an entire army to bring me down!" cried Ringo, puffing out his already large belly proudly. Then he seemed to deflate a little and motioned for Yoshiko to bend down a little so he could whisper in her ear: "But just between you and me, my joints have seen better days."

But as Yoshiko straightened up he let out a great round laugh and finally took in the sight of Yoshiko and her group. His eyes swept over everybody, giving each an appraising nod. When he reached Sesshomaru and Jaken though he gave a little jump, of which Sesshomaru either didn't care or took no notice of. Ringo raised an eyebrow at Yoshiko who gave no explanation but he quickly shook it off, giving his eyes entirely to Yoshiko.

"Well, well, well, now!" he boomed, his eyes moving up and down her figure. "Since when did the great Yoshiko wear dresses? You should wear them more often. It makes you down right sexy."

A slight blush crept over Yoshiko's cheeks as Sango gave a small giggly and InuYasha grinned. To cover up her embarrassment, Yoshiko rounded on Miroku, crossing her arms and giving a look of disgust and annoyance.

"Careful, monk, or this is the kind of person you'll turn into when you grow old," she said, nodding toward Ringo who was bouncing on the balls of his feet. At this comment though, he positively beamed at Miroku.

"Ah, so you're like me, are you?" he said, putting his hands behind his back. "Well, here's a small bit of advice: don't stick with one girl, lad. It gets rather dull after a while and then they'll ask you to settle down and have children… Not really what it's all cracked up to be. Cause once you have kids there isn't time for anything else, if you get my drift—"

"Alright!" said Yoshiko loudly, who had noticed Sango eyeing the two men evilly. "Look, Ringo, I came just to ask if you wouldn't mind making me some new robes because my old ones… well, let's just say I can't wear them anymore."

"Really?" said Ringo, with a mischievous glint in his eye as he turned away. "I'm sorry to say that we can't—"

"But—"

"Unless! Unless you agree to be our priestess in the Jewel Ceremony," finished Ringo.

"You still do that silly festival?" said Yoshiko blankly. "Are you guys like totally secluded? Don't you know the Shikon Jewel is gone?"

"Of course!" said Ringo, turning around aghast. "If we didn't I'm sure that Kikyo would be more than welcome to be our priestess instead."

"So is _that_ why she was so near by!" cried Yoshiko, putting his fist in her hand and looking off into the distance. "I wondered…" Then she shook her head and looked back down at Ringo. "But isn't there anybody else? I mean… Somebody… well… more qualified?"

"Who's more qualified than you?" cried Ringo. "You're a part of this village. You're the best choice of them all. Even over Kikyo."

"Yeah right," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. "I don't have mystical priestess powers like Kikyo. I don't purify things and stuff like that…"

"Fire can purify things," said Ringo, almost to himself than anybody else.

But before Yoshiko could respond to this, a group of women came out of the crowd and surrounded her. They pulled on her clothes, on her hair and her face. One talked about make-up (a rare thing), another talked about new clothes and a third mentioned doing something fancy with her hair. But when the women tried to run her fingers through Yoshiko's hair (suddenly aware of the fact that she hadn't brushed it for an entire week… or washed it for that matter) she found all sorts of knots.

"Maybe it would be best just to cut it!"

Suddenly Yoshiko's eyes went all misty as if her dream had come true. Then, surprising everybody including Sesshomaru, she whipped around and grabbed the women's hands.

"Really? You would do that?"

"I've never heard of anybody that _wanted_ their hair short," said the women, taking a step back. "But, yes, we can do that."

Maybe it was her imagination or the trick of the eye. But as Yoshiko was led off by the women and Ringo told her friends about where they would be staying that night, she thought she saw Sesshomaru give her a disappointed look and then she was being taken into a large bathhouse.

* * *

Normally Sueko was really good with history. It was the one subject in school that was somewhat interesting at times so she was actually able to retain the information she learned in the lesson more often than not. But if that was so, why was this up-coming test full to topics she knew nothing about? 

"_And considering you've missed the first month and a half of school, you're in for some real trouble when you get back to school."_

_Shut up, Keitaro!_ Sueko thought annoyingly, flipping through her textbook so she could finish her study guide. Her trip on the subway was only forty minutes so she didn't have all the time in the world to finish this study guide. Tamika forgot to tell her when the study guide was due—or maybe Sueko forgot to ask—so it could have been due Wednesday, or maybe even _today_, for all she knew.

When the train stopped, Sueko looked up long enough to see what stop it was. Maybe Keitaro could help her finish her study guide… Seeing that it was Tamika and Keitaro's stop, Sueko sighed with relief and looked down at her packet just to see how much she had gotten done…

Five… out of ten pages… two and a half of which she had done with Tamika the other night…

Sueko sat up taller, trying to find her friends through the crowd, as paranoid thoughts about having to turn in her unfinished packet when she walked into school going through her head.

"Ohayo!" 12

Sueko turned her head to the source of the sound to see Tamika waving cheerfully as she tried her best to get through the crowds to the door. Sueko moved her school stuff, making two seats clear, which both Keitaro and Tamika sat down on when they got to Sueko.

"Ohayo!" they both said, though Keitaro was looking at the packet on Sueko's lap with a raised eyebrow.

"Ohayo, ohayo," said Sueko distractedly. "Keitaro, this packet is due tomorrow and I don't have it done yet… HELP!"

"Oh, calm down already," said Keitaro, taking the packet from Sueko and skimming through it quickly before saying, "This isn't due till Thursday, Birthday-Girl."

"Really? Oh, thank God!" said Sueko, raising her arms in a "Wahoo!" sort of way.

"We have other… _more_ _important_ matters to deal with, besides," said Tamika seriously.

"Wha?" said Sueko, who stopped shoving things into her book bag and looked up curiously.

"Happy Birthday!" cried Tamika, pulling out a box out of her back pack that shouldn't have been able to fit in there with all of her other school stuff but somehow did, and handing it to Sueko proudly.

"We're doing this _now_? _Before_ school?" said Sueko, looking down at the neatly wrapped box on her lap. Tamika just nodded.

"She couldn't wait," said Keitaro, sounding tired but looking amused all at once. "So I suggest you just go along with it."

"Okay then," said Sueko, looking at the box on her lap and wondering what it was. Just as Tamika opened her mouth to hurry her up Sueko tore off the paper, being careful not to make a huge mess and yet do it rather quickly.

With all of the paper off of it, Sueko blinked at it as Keitaro heaved a really loud sigh and Tamika giggled a bit.

"You'll have to be sure to watch all of them this weekend!" said Tamika with another giggle.

"_Wolf's Rain_," said Sueko, eyeing the title of the DVD-box set before looking for the synopsis, which she was having a hard time finding.

"Where's the summary?" asked Sueko, still turning the box in her hand. She couldn't quite believe Tamika had bought her a _whole_ anime series, but it only had thirty episodes so that wasn't too bad…

"Oh, it's on the side there… See?" said Tamika, turning the box to the side and pointing at the box of writing. "Basically, it's about…"

Sueko spent a good twenty minutes listening to Tamika going on and on about _Wolf's Rain_, which was apparently about four wolves—Kiba, Tsume, Toboe and Hige—who took the appearance of humans whenever they wanted as they searched for paradise with Cheza, some Luna flower who also took the appearance of a human girl when she wanted. Tamika described each character vividly, giving the appearance of Kiba the most detail—apparently she had a huge crush on the guy. Sueko tried to listen but couldn't help being reminded of Sesshomaru when she described Tsume.

"He's kind of a jerk… he becomes less of a jerk because Toboe's all nice to him and stuff but he's still a jerk! Tsume was _so_ mean to Cheza, and keeps yelling at Kiba all the time! If I was Kiba I would have kicked him out of their little wolf pack, but, then again, Kiba is a nice guy… he's _so_ the type to give people second chances—even big jerks like Tsume…"

"Tamika…" said Keitaro fumingly. "Could… you… please… just… SHUT UP!"

"But…" said Tamika, getting a bit teary, "I haven't even gotten to explain the romantic relationships… or the fact that everyone ends up dying in the last episode—"

"_What_!" interrupted Sueko. "They all _die_!"

"Um… yeah, pretty much," said Tamika. "Why?"

Sueko stared at her new birthday present while muttering, "What's the freakin' point in watching it if they all die…"

"Humph!" said Tamika very loudly. "Let's see what _Keitaro_ got _Sueko_ for her birthday!"

Suddenly realizing that Tamika was angry, Sueko said very quickly, "I really like your present, Tamika, I really, really, do! It sounds so interesting!"

Actually, she didn't get why her friend was so obsessed with a show about the end of the world—well, _after_ the end of the world—where these four guys who were actually wolves go wandering around looking for a paradise that has no signs of actually existing, only to end up dying in the last episode…

"Really?" said Tamika, getting a bit teary eyed again.

"Sure," said Sueko. Then she asked a bit timidly, "You sure _everyone_ dies?"

"Don't worry!" said Tamika, grinning, "See, they all die, and then it sort of starts all over and everyone turns out to be alive anyways… so… yeah!"

"Okay," said Sueko, very confused. Turning to Keitaro, she said, "Hey, do you have something for me?"

"What?" said Keitaro, looking back at Sueko. "Oh… um… yeah…"

As he dug around in his bag for her present, Sueko looked down at Tamika's present, wondering when she'd ever find the time to watch all thirty episodes—she'd have to watch them quickly so Tamika's feelings weren't hurt.

But suddenly a small, narrow box was tossed onto Sueko's lap, interrupting her thoughts. She looked back at Keitaro, who was now staring at a book. Though he was staring at it so much it looked like he might actually burn a hole right through the pages if he wasn't careful.

Sueko looked back down at the small box guilty. She didn't forget last night when Tamika had told her about Keitaro's feelings. And that someday she'd have to find the right moment to tell him the truth…

Sueko tore the paper off rather apprehensively. She had no clue what kind of gift Keitaro would give her. Sure, at Christmas he gave her a CD player but that was when they were just friends… now they weren't exactly "just friends" anymore if one had feelings for the other. But once the paper was off all that was left was a narrow black box with a lid on top. Still clueless as to what could be inside, Sueko nervously took off the lid, dropping it on her lap as she stared at the object inside.

"Oh, I wanna see! He never told me what he got you and it's been driving me _nuts_ trying to figure it out!" cried Tamika, leaning over to see properly.

Sueko looked over at Keitaro, who was a bit pink in the face and staring at the same spot in the book he had been looking at earlier, before looking back at what was inside.

A locket. A simple golden heart shaped locket. But it obviously was not a "simple gift" judging by the increasing color on Keitaro's cheeks. And as she picked it up Sueko's guilty feeling grew and grew. The color in her cheeks grew darker as well.

A gasp of breath surprised both Sueko and Keitaro, who looked up and saw a very shocked looking Tamika, who put a hand on her mouth and stared wide-eyed from the locket to Keitaro.

"It's not _that_ big of a deal," muttered Keitaro, trying to sound _way_ too casual.

Sueko opened the locket curiously, wondering what it would contain inside. Some love note? A poem? Some candid shot of her, or maybe just a plain photograph of Keitaro?

"_Hey_!" cried Sueko, looking at the empty locket annoyingly.

"You know," said Tamika seriously to her brother as she waved her pointer finger in his face. "If you're gonna give a girl a romantic present, you've got to do it right!"

"What?" said Keitaro, his face now the color of a tomato and a look of confusion on his face.

"Oh, I have an idea!" said Tamika, ignoring Keitaro's confusion. "We'll just stop at that photo hut thingy before we get to school and have our own little group picture inside!"

"Huh?" said Keitaro and Sueko at once.

Suddenly the train started slowing down. Tamika didn't answer, just stood up and put on her backpack. When the train finally came to a sudden stop and people started filing out, Tamika, put her hands on her hips as she started down at Keitaro and Sueko, who were still very confused.

"Come on, then!" cried Tamika, dragging Keitaro and Sueko by their shirt collars out of the train. The two just barely managed to grab all of their stuff before they found themselves on the sidewalk.

Sueko tried to get herself out of Tamika's grip but it was too strong. Some how—perhaps out of years of practice—Keitaro managed to slip out of Tamika's grasp and walked up to the nearest person in front of him, wrapped his arms around their neck and moaned, "Save me… _please_…"

"Oh, hello Sueko!" said the person, waving at her cheerfully. "I didn't know you were well enough to come back to school!"

Sueko walked up to the guy just as he pulled Keitaro off of him (Keitaro leaned against the wall with his arms crossed moodily instead). With her hands on her hips and trying her best to stand tall, she cried, "I know your name! I know it! I just can't think of it…"

"Akio?" said the boy with a grin.

"Oh. Yeah…" said Sueko sheepishly, turning more pink. She observed the shopping bag in Akio's hand and wondered what it contained.

Noticing this, Akio held up the bag and said, "I figured Tamika would want us all to give you our presents early, so… _Ahem_… here you go…" As he handed it to her he added, "Sorry I didn't have time to wrap it…"

Digging around past all the tissue paper, Sueko felt something rather fuzzy, but couldn't get a good look at what the fuzzy thing was because the bag straps kept getting in her face. So she set the bag on the ground and knelt near it, moving aside the tissue paper to see a soft-feeling blue sweatshirt and light purple miniskirt to go with.

"Wow…" said Sueko, standing up and pulling out the sweatshirt at the same time to get a better look of it.

"I left the tags incase it didn't fit…" said Akio. "But Tamika helped me get the right size, so…"

"You make it sound like I went with you to pick it out!" cried Tamika, turning a bit pink. "I just told you what her shirt and pant size were because you asked! Sheesh…"

She didn't get why the shirt had a heart with wings in the middle, and she didn't get what a flying heart had to do with tengoku, which was etched below the heart, but it was a cute sweatshirt none-of-the-less so she didn't really care. And judging by the soft material it would be very warm come winter, yet cool enough to wear on a breezy, sunny day. And perhaps she could stand wearing the purple miniskirt, which wasn't actually as mini as it looked by first glance. 13

"Happy Birthday!" said Akio.

"Hey," said Tamika, an odd twinkle in her eye. "Now that we're all here…"

Before they could do anything about it, Keitaro, Sueko and Akio found themselves in a small square box getting their picture taken with a very happy Tamika.

* * *

When Yoshiko was done with her make over it was already past lunch and well into dinner. She took instructions to the hut at which her friends were staying but already knew very well where they were staying. It was the hut right next to Ringo's where she had staid often because the village hadn't had its own priestess for years. Before she walked into the hut she stood right outside the doorway, listening to the chatter inside. Sango was laughing gleefully as InuYasha shouted insults, probably at Shippo. Rin gave a halfhearted defense for Shippo and then went back to talk to Miroku. There was then a loud "Ow" as Sango hit Miroku for whatever reason. Finally she heard Jaken speaking to Sesshomaru who said nothing in return. 

Sighing, Yoshiko flattened out her new green, silk dress and held her bag of old and new clothes behind her back. Her newly cut hair was up in a sort of half bun, half short ponytail; if down it would reach her shoulders. Though it was longer than she liked it still was short enough that she didn't feel that she would complain about it. Also she had realize that if it was too short she may find that it would get in the way but there would be now way of holding it back. Then, holding her head up high, she walked into the hut where a silence fell. Dropping her bag, she held out her arms and turned around so that they could see all of her.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Yoshiko, turning back around with a large grin on her face to prove to her friends that she was happy with it.

"It's very nice," said Sango, nodding.

"Very ni— " started Miroku before Sango hit him again.

"I would hug you but I'm afraid I would wrinkle it," said Rin, feeling the hem of her dress.

"Wow!" said Shippo, coming over to stand next to Rin. He hesitated and then poked at the dress. "Cool…"

"Feh…"

Yoshiko looked up at InuYasha who was eyeing her warily. Before she could say anything he continued:

"The festival isn't for a week," he sighed. "What are you going to wear till then?"

"We're going to stay?" cried Yoshiko, feeling like a little girl. When InuYasha gave a half nod, half shrug she leapt at him and gave him a large hug. "Thank you, InuYasha! Thank you, thank you!"

"Feh."

As this was going on, Yoshiko heard somebody leave. When InuYasha pried her off of him, she turned around and saw that Sesshomaru had disappeared. Not only disappointed that he hadn't even said anything to her since they got here but also a bit confused by his behavior. Saying that she needed some fresh air, Yoshiko disentangled from Shippo and Rin and exited the hut. Luckily Sesshomaru hadn't gotten very far, but was standing just a few feet away, staring at the setting sun. When she looked at him and realized that she was wearing a very thin dress, Yoshiko felt her cheeks turn pink. Still she walked up to him, clutched her hands behind her back and looking slightly to his left.

"So, what do you think?" Yoshiko asked quietly, trying to surprise him into saying something.

She was sadly disappointed. Instead he sighed, and turned slightly to glare at her. Yoshiko blinked and dropped her hands to her side, but didn't move. When he still said nothing she sighed, then frowned at him. Still Sesshomaru made no sign of speaking, which just infuriated her! The guy had no decency! Sure, he was looking at her, but she had asked a question and he wasn't even giving a simple reply. Finally she put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but he decided that _now_ he was going to answer.

"I don't see the point of changing your appearance when there was nothing wrong with it in the first place," growled Sesshomaru.

"Wh-what?" said Yoshiko, a little taken a back. She regained her composure almost immediately. "Well, it's a girl thing! Sometimes we just like to dress up and feel prettier than usual."

"Or this is the only way you can think of to hide what you really are," said Sesshomaru. Yoshiko merely blinked at him. "Apparently you are just a silly half-breed."

With that he started to walk past her, Yoshiko still staring in one direction, his words slowly sinking in. When she realized what he had said, she spun around, one hand at her chest but Sesshomaru was already starting to disappear. Yoshiko dropped her hand and shook her head.

"What does he know?" she muttered angrily. "Its not like his opinion really matters…"

Before she could dare to answer herself, Sango popped her head out of the hut.

"Hey, you coming in?"

"Huh?" said Yoshiko, wiping away a stray tear. "Oh, no. Not right now. I'm going to go for a walk. You know, get my bearings… Haven't been here in a long time."

"Right," said Sango. "Well, don't stay out all night."

"Sure, whatever…" muttered Yoshiko, turning and walking the opposite way as Sesshomaru. She knew even if she did stay out all night, somebody would come after her. Maybe it would be Sesshomaru…

'Except I don't think I'm going to talk to him!'

* * *

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air as no one said anything, just sat around the kotatsu—it might be May but an unexpected storm had come and it was blistery and pouring down rain outside, so it was actually pretty chilly, even indoors—waiting for someone else to say the words that they couldn't think to say. But then, after about five minutes of this continuing gauche silence, someone spoke up. (14) 

"So… erm… Keitaro. Any ideas as to where to start?" asked Sueko clearly, looking up from her twiddling thumbs.

"Well, let's face it," said a tired looking Keitaro, "you suck at _everything_!"

"Hey, have you _looked_ at my History grade lately! It's a perfect B-!"

"Don't mind me, I'm just here for moral support," said Tamika with a sweet, innocent-like smile. It helped she was wearing pigtails, so she was looking pretty childish today.

"Uh…" said Keitaro, rubbing his temple in annoyance. "How about we start with… uh… er… Anyone got a coin to flip?"

"You're going to help me keep up my grades by _gambling_!"

"What does tossing a coin have to do with gambling? Besides, we don't gamble with money in this country, so what's up with you?" (15)

"Blame the thirty-minute phone conversation I had with my cousin," said Sueko brightly. "She lives in Kansas!"

"Oh, I liked that movie!" said Tamika. "Toto was so cute!"

"Um…"

"Okay, English is your worst subject so how about we start with that," said Keitaro suddenly, taking their textbook and flipping through to the chapter they were on in class.

"How did you manage to talk to your Kansas friend if you suck at English?" asked Tamika.

"Uh… _cousin_," Sueko corrected. "Besides, she knows Japanese from our Grandparents, so there."

"Did you start on Monday's packet at all?" said Keitaro loudly to stop the two girls' conversation.

"Uh… not really," said Sueko. "Hey, it's not due 'til tomorrow!"

"See, there's your number one problem!" said Keitaro seriously. "You leave your homework until the last minute and then understand none of it so you just rush it and get a low score on it!"

"Um… okay…" said Sueko, blinking.

"So," said Keitaro, looking at the first page of said packet. "What's the translation of engei?"

"Uh…" said Sueko, glancing at her choice of words (it was a match-up on vocabulary words to prepare students for the upcoming test). "I know this one! Oh my God… um… Oh! _Entertainment_?"

"No, the other engei," said Keitaro, almost getting away with hiding a smirk. "_Horticulture_ is 園芸 while _entertainment_ is 舞芸." (16)

"Fine…" said Sueko, writing it down and trying to memorize the fact that 園芸 equals _horticulture_ while the other engei meant _entertainment_.

"What am _I_ supposed to do?" asked Tamika, playing around with a mechanical pencil.

"You didn't _have_ to come," said Keitaro. "Unless you have some amazing new tutoring tips that I don't know about you really have no use being here."

"I'm here for moral support!" said Tamika stubbornly. "Besides, I can help Sueko pray for luck."

"Oh please," said Sueko, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, your next word would be… nogyo," said Keitaro.

"Yay! No trick word like engei!" said Sueko cheerfully. "Alright… um…" She glanced quickly at her choice of words before looking back up, hoping the quicker she was the less guilty she would look, seeing how she was trying to not have to peek at the words in the first place. "Uh… agreculture?"

"In English the i sounds like an e…" said Keitaro. "But yeah, agriculture is correct. You didn't get the i wrong with entertainment…" (17)

"Wahoo! Two done, fifteen to go!" said Sueko, marking her page and completely ignoring Keitaro.

"Are we done yet?" yawned Tamika.

"No one invited you!" cried Keitaro.

"Yeah, but what else was I supposed to do? Lay around the apartment all day? Besides, Sueko has a pet cat! We don't have a pet cat at home!"

"We had a mouse when we were four…" said Keitaro slowly.

"Oh yeah! Her name was Umi…" said Tamika dreamily. "And then… and then… KEITARO KILLED HER!" (18)

"I did NOT!" said Keitaro.

"Did to! I went to this week-long Nihon Buyo camp and then I came back… and… and… Umi was _dead_! And you know _why_? Because YOU forgot to feed her!" (19)

"I so did not do that!" cried Keitaro. "Why'd I forget to feed Umi for!"

"Um… hey, Keitaro?" said Sueko timidly. "I can't figure out what tagayasu would be…"

"Huh? Oh… cultivate…"

"Okay!" said Sueko, eagerly writing it down.

"I thought you were over the Umi thing…" said Keitaro quietly to Tamika.

"Who ever said I wasn't?"

"What's the difference between _transplant_ A and _transplant _B?"

"_What_?"

"For number seven…" said Sueko timidly. "I mean, I get that on number seven the answer is _transplant_, but there's two versions of _transplant_ and I don't know which is first…"

"Oh," said Keitaro, looking down at the packet. "Utsusu is _transplant _B, which is to move something from one place to another… And _transplant_ A means medically with a organ _transplant_, or a plant _transplant_, so that'd be…"

"Ishoku suru!" cried Sueko, jotting it down.

"Wow, you did three problems all by yourself!" said Tamika, looking at Sueko's packet.

"Oh, I did!" said Sueko. "This is simpler than I thought it was!"

"And it was because you took your time with it!" said Keitaro proudly.

"No… it's because you gave me the answers for half the problems," said Sueko sweetly. "Thanks, by-the-way."

"Fine! Just for that remark I'm not giving you _any_ of the answers _ever_ again!"

"Hey, no fair!"

Tamika yawned, raising her arms in a stretch before saying, "I have an idea! How about a study break!"

"We haven't been at it long enough for a study break!" snapped Keitaro.

"So? I'm so _boo-ored_!" whined Tamika.

"You could help me with number fifteen," said Sueko, poking her forehead with the mechanical pencil with annoyance as she glared at her packet.

"Nah…" yawned Tamika.

"Wow, number fifteen already?" said Keitaro, looking at the page to double-check.

"Yup. And I totally blame you!" said Sueko, pointing at him with her mechanical pencil. "You're smartness must be contagious because I've caught the bug!"

"No, you're confidence has just been lifted so your work effort has improved," said Keitaro stubbornly with his arms crossed.

"I like the smart disease better," said Sueko just as stubbornly. "Except sicknesses eventually go away and then I'll just be stupid again…"

"You're not stupid!"

"Okay, fine then! I'm not stupid! But I'm certainly not _bright_ so what other word is there?"

"Just because you have bad grades does not mean you're stupid!"

"You're both stupid!" said Tamika annoyingly, who was doodling on a scratch piece of paper with her head resting on her hand. "So both of you shut up!"

"Humph!"

The only sound that could be heard for the next ten minutes was the sound of Tamika's humming (by the sounds of it, a Morning Musume song), the flicking of Sueko's mechanical pencil, and the flipping of pages by Keitaro, who was working on his own homework. But then the flicking of the pencil stopped as Sueko sighed in defeat and said quietly, "Is shokubutsuen _vegetation_ or _food-poisoning_?"

"Neither," said Keitaro tiredly. "Shokubutsuen is _botanical garden_. Shokubutsu is _vegetation_ and… I have no clue where you got _food-poisoning_ from, but it's shokuchudoku…"

"Okay…" said Sueko, writing it down. "Sorry…"

"Uh… no, it's no big deal…" muttered Keitaro, waving a hand but not looking up from his work.

Sueko sighed, adding in the word _greenhouse _for onshitsu.

"Oh, all done!" cried Tamika suddenly, setting down her pencil and leaning against the wall with her hands behind her back while she smirked proudly.

"What?" asked Sueko.

"With my drawing!" said Tamika, holding up her piece of paper. "It's Kiba!" (20)

"Okay," said Sueko, not really caring. She was too busy feeling guilty over the silly little argument she and Keitaro had just had. Which was sad because it wasn't even an argument. She was being more pathetic than when she and InuYasha had a fight. What was up with her today? She didn't need to get a crush on InuYasha, get over it, get a crush on Koga, then get over it, then fall in love with InuYasha, and suddenly start falling in love with Keitaro. That would just really suck. Plus she'd had enough romantic problems in her life for a year—for a _lifetime_. And she really did not need to deal with her best friend being in love with her. Honestly, Sueko could not believe she was attractive enough to attract _three_ guys (that is, if Akio still wanted to date her. Oh, and that InuYasha still liked her; that guy was confusing as hell at times, it was hard to tell.). Maybe Sueko should change her mind about hating mini skirts because her schoolgirl outfit was sure doing wonders…

"I'm hungry!" said Tamika suddenly.

"You have got to be the whiniest study buddy _ever_!" snapped Sueko.

"What? I'm bored," said Tamika with a smile.

"I guess we've done enough for a small break," said Keitaro, closing his textbook. Then he glared at Tamika and added sternly, "A _short_ break."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," said Tamika, not really paying attention. But just as she was walking out the living room door she turned around and, with one hand still on the door she had been opening and the other on her hip, she said exasperatedly, "What do you two think you're doing?"

So then Sueko and Keitaro found themselves being dragged outside with Tamika. Which was getting rather annoying, getting dragged around by Tamika. Sueko was surprised her shirtsleeve wasn't completely stretched out by now.

"Why are we _outside_ for?" snapped Keitaro, wrenching his arm from Tamika's grip.

"Ah, it's so nice outside!" said Tamika, going down the long shrine steps two at a time.

"Okay… it's _raining_!" cried Sueko. "And I'm already soaked and cold…"

"I like rain!" said Tamika. "How can you not like the rain?"

"When it's drizzling or something it's just fine… but it's dumping out here! And _cold_!"

"I think you'll live for five minutes," said Tamika sweetly, turning around to stick her tongue out.

"Humph…"

"It's not as windy as it was before," said Keitaro with a slight smile.

"Yeah," said Sueko with a sigh.

"So," said Tamika, reaching the last step and spinning around to face Keitaro and Sueko, who were a few paces behind, "where do you want to go?"

"I thought we were taking a study break," said Keitaro.

"Yes… but when people go for a walk aren't they headed somewhere?" said Tamika, smiling.

"Then pick some random direction and go that way," said Sueko. "Or go by your gut feeling. That's usually what we do when we're trying to figure out which way we go to find some more Shrine Stones. Though Yoshiko keeps complaining that I should just practice trying to 'talk' to my sword because that'd be a lot more easier…"

"Come again?" said Tamika.

"Since when did you have a sword?" cried Keitaro. "More importantly, how come you never let me see it!"

Sueko shrugged. "It's not that important. It's rather plain looking, actually. I'm sure you could find a nice picture of one just like it off the Internet."

"Hey, a photograph and seeing the real object up-close and personal are two totally separate things!"

"All it does is glow blue once and a while when there's a stone around," Sueko continued, ignoring Keitaro's comment.

"Whoa, just like Frodo's sword when orcs are around?" said Keitaro, eyes wide.

"Um… Frodo? Ocrs? What?"

"I can't wait till they finish making the movie in New Zealand!" said Keitaro breathlessly (he was starting to act and sound like his younger sister with his excitement, and it was starting to creep Sueko out a bit). "Of course, we'll have to wait months for it to show in Japan… but it's a good enough movie they'll be sure to show it in the theater! Dad already said we can see it as soon as it comes out…"

"Oh God, I forgot to warn you about _Lord of the Rings_," muttered Tamika, pulling Sueko aside. "It's some really huge book that no one in their right mind would want to read. It's really boring, and was written in, like, the thirties. How old!"

"How _dare_ you insult J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece," growled Keitaro, an odd glint in his eyes as he suddenly appeared behind the two girls. "Besides, it was written in the fifties, not the thirties! Well, actually, it was originally going to be published as one big book but the publishers decided to split it into three books, so they were actually published between the years 1954 and 1966. And you can't forget the prequel, _The Hobbit_, which was published in 1937…"

"So!" said Tamika loudly, talking over Keitaro's rambling. "You were saying about Feudal Japan, Sueko?"

"Fine! Ignore me! But I warn you, when—"

"Uh huh," said Tamika, nodding her head "understandingly." Then she turned her head and said, "Oh, look, its Akio!"

"No way," said Keitaro, turning his head. Sueko did too, and even though she thought Tamika made up Akio being there, it actually turned out to be that he was.

"What are you doing here, Akio?" Keitaro called.

Akio rushed over to the trio, being sure to hold his hood in place so the wind wouldn't blow it off. Sueko was surprised Tamika spotted him, since his dark raincoat was doing a good job of hiding his face.

"I didn't expect to see you lot out in this weather!" said Akio, raising his eyebrow at the sight of them; the three were still wearing their school uniforms since they had gone straight to Sueko's house. No one grabbed a coat when Tamika dragged them out.

"Me neither!" said Keitaro, looking as if he wished he had Akio's coat for warmth.

"I didn't know you lived around here," said Sueko. "My house is just over there."

"I live two miles that way," said Akio, gesturing behind him. "I missed the train so had to walk to the grocer—Hikari drank all the milk and we kind of need some… like, now… So I volunteered to go buy some."

"Hikari?" said Sueko.

"Oh. My little sister," said Akio with a grin.

"Oh great," muttered Sueko. "Why does everyone have a sibling except for me?"

"They aren't that great," said Keitaro. "They're annoying, selfish, rude, and insulting to great works of fiction!"

"Oniisan? Shut up!"

"Aww, they're all right," said Akio, smiling at the twin's bickering. "Okay, Hikari's really annoying, but she's also really adorable too. She's only six," he added.

"Um… I have a cat!" said Sueko brightly. For some reason everyone found that hilarious, and laughed for a whole two minutes about it.

"So, what are you three doing out here?" said Akio conversationally. "I mean, it's pouring down rain…"

"I know," said Keitaro.

"It's all her fault," said Sueko, pointing at Tamika, who had her hands behind her back as she looked up towards the heavens and whistled an odd tune.

"Figures," said Akio. "Well, I should go… I was hoping I could catch the next train or something because I don't want to be out in this weather much longer. And I suggest you all hurry up and head inside before you catch cold!"

"Sure thing!" said Keitaro as he waved good-bye to the Akio rushing past the crowded sidewalk.

"Onward, march!" said Sueko, pushing Tamika back towards the house.

"But… but… oh, _fine_…"

"I don't want my new necklace to rust or anything!" said Sueko. "Wait… I don't know, will it rust in the rain, Keitaro?"

"Huh?"

"The locket!"

"Oh… no… Wait, you're actually wearing it?"

If he were InuYasha Sueko would have hit him on the head, or possibly have said sit. Except Keitaro wasn't the kind of guy you could hit on the head… at least, not the kind of person Sueko would want to hit on the head. So instead she just cried out, "Of course I am, you idiot! What else would I do with it? It pretty much only has one use."

"Yeah…" said Keitaro thoughtfully.

It was then that Sueko was reminded of the fact that she would eventually have to say that she was no longer single to Keitaro… and, wishing Tamika had never brought the subject up, grudgingly went up the stairs and back into her house.

* * *

Miroku was intent on finding her and, at the moment, Yoshiko just didn't want to be found! She had spent a good ten minutes trying to lose him but the monk just wouldn't let up. As she was passing a small lake in the middle of the forest, she noticed someone bathing. Hoping to distract the lecher, she led him into the clearing but hid before the person could see her. As she had hoped, as soon as Miroku saw her she called out to the bathing figure. The women looked up, jumped to her feet, her long blue hair falling into her face and grabbed up her clothes trying to cover up. Her face was turning a dark shade of red but she merely glared as she drew up her sword. 

"What manner of man watches women bathe?" she snapped.

"I did not to intrude fair lady," said Miroku, grinning as he held up his hands. "I merely thought that someone with great beauty may perhaps bless me by bearing my child."

Yoshiko groaned and started to head away when another person appeared in the clearing. Wishing to see how Sango would react, Yoshiko wandered closer but hid herself a bit better. The demon slayer looked at Miroku and the regular look came across her face. Just as she was about to lift up her large boomerang, she saw clearly the girl in the water who was quickly coming out and dressing herself. She was muttering to herself and still a very dark shade of red. Her blue hair was draped over one shoulder as she bent over, glancing at Miroku occasionally. She, too, suddenly noticed Sango and froze. But the strange women fade the first move, straightening up and glaring at Miroku, her hair still over her shoulder causing her to look only more dangerous now that she was clothed in the garb of the demon slayers, only her armor was purple.

"You know my sister, Sango?" she snapped. Yoshiko blinked. _'Sister?'_ That complicated things.

"Half sister," Sango corrected sternly, surprising Yoshiko by giving the women a look of right out hatred and loathing. Why could the demon slayer stand to be around InuYasha and Yoshiko and despise a half-demon related to herself? "So, Kimiko, thought you would pray on the first man the strayed by and have yourself a little fun?"

"You may enjoy perverts, sister," said Kimiko coolly, "but I have a little more taste."

It happened practically in a blink of an eye. Sango raised up her boomerang and threw it but the women… Kimiko was already out of the way. She threw a scythe at the end of a chain at Sango who had to dodge it and missed her weapon as well. Pulling in her weapon, Kimiko tried another attack but Sango had had time to pull out her sword and blocked it. The women dropped her weapon of choice and drew up her sword again. The clash of the metal was so loud that Yoshiko flinched. She was surprised that the weapons didn't break under the pressure of their ferocity. Miroku stepped forward and drove them apart with his staff.

"That's quite enough!" he cried. "This is uncalled for."

"Out of the way, monk," hissed Kimiko.

"This has nothing to do with you, Miroku," snapped Sango. "Now move!"

She shoved Miroku out of the way and took a swing at Kimiko. The women had hardly any time to move and Yoshiko knew that at that speed even she or InuYasha would have been struck. Kimiko clutched at her wound in her abdomen but kept a firm hold on her weapon. By this time Yoshiko as seen enough. She leapt out of the bushes and caught Sango by her sword arm and twisting it behind her back. The half-demon had a good though to break it off but a small voice told her that Sango was still her friend and was a good fighter. Their group needed her. So instead, teeth bared, Yoshiko threw the demon slayer to the ground and caught up Kimiko before she had hit the ground.

"You can clean up this mess," snapped Yoshiko to Sango who was sprawled on the ground. "When you get back to the hut and Kimiko is safely in bed you can explain this."

Sango looked up at her in complete surprise, acting as if she had forgotten all about her sister. Yoshiko could tell it wasn't the fact that she had stopped her from killing Kimiko or was trying to save her that bother Sango. It was how she had done it, her power and the way her voice sounded. It bothered Yoshiko too but she didn't feel like she had time to figure it out or apologize. She glanced once at Miroku's shocked face before striding off, careful not to knock Kimiko's head against a tree. Her mind was fuming at the lack of respect Sango had given to her half sister who was no different from two of her companions. How could this women have deserved it any more than herself or InuYasha?

'_Then again… I don't know exactly how she treated InuYasha when she first met him,'_ thought Yoshiko. _'Maybe she had tried to kill him because of her sister and by the time she met me had come to realize that not all half-demons are bad. Perhaps her sister does deserve it…'_

But even so she felt an anger toward Sango rising through her like fire. When she had reached the hut she hardly registered the fact that Sesshomaru was still here. She gave no response to anybody but walked into the other room where she started dressing the women's wound. Kimiko rested for a good while and Sango did not return… and neither did Miroku. Yoshiko had a thought that perhaps they were plotting how to kill both herself and the blue haired women. She felt an odd satisfaction at the thought of an excuse to strangle Sango and break every bone in her body.

'_Actually, it should be the other way around…'_ she thought.

Then, with a horror at the thoughts, she shook her head, awakening Kimiko who sat up. She looked down at her ripped clothing and looked at Yoshiko. Without a word the half tiger demon rummaged in her bag and brought out her purple dress. The women quickly dawned it before sitting down and looking Yoshiko straight in the eye.

"I must thank you," she said stiffly. "You saved my life. My name is Kimiko. My mother was the same as Sango and my father was a half water demon."

"So you're only a quarter demon?" said Yoshiko in surprise. "I thought perhaps you were half-demon like myself."

"No… Apparently Sango has much more respect for half-demons than myself," said Kimiko, averting her eyes suddenly. "Though I admit she did try and kill that InuYasha it wasn't for the fact that he was half-demon. It was Naraku's doing."

"Oh…" said Yoshiko, suddenly coming up with a whole scene in her head where Naraku tried to blame Sango's brother's death on InuYasha. Or something of the sort. From what she had heard of this Naraku it seemed the thing he would do. And Kamatari. He would probably do it too.

'_Perhaps this is his doing,'_ she thought. _'Could it possibly be Kamatari that laid Kimiko out for Sango to stumble across? But for what reason?'_

"My father was not very nice. He raped my mother before she married and so she entered marriage pregnant. Though he was often away, he would come to claim me and often beat myself and my mother. It was become of him that she died when Sango was still young and Kohaku barely a year old," sighed Kimiko. "My step-father attempted to be kind and knew that my birth father could do little to harm a village of demon slayers. But Sango always seemed to blame me for the constant unease and her mother's death."

"She wishes to kill you because of your father's mistakes?" cried Yoshiko. "That doesn't sound like the Sango I know…"

"Oh but that's not all of the story," said Kimiko with an almost insane smile. "You see when she was younger she was afraid of me because I looked different and acted different. It wasn't that she didn't like me. But then she learned of her mother's death and started to dislike me. When she grew older and started to like boys she realize that they never would look twice at her whilst I was around. Besides I refused to become a demon slayer and was away when Naraku attacked the village. I was the only one left that could have perhaps saved the village. She blames me for this."

"Yes… But it doesn't explain why Sango would wish to kill you," said Yoshiko thoughtfully. "I, perhaps, would despise you to some extent but not to the fact that I would shove you into your grave."

"But there is still more to my little story. Though the fact that I wish to become all demon my weigh on her mind heavily," continued Kimiko. Yoshiko found herself looking away in disgust momentarily. She despised demons. "But I confronted her at the young lord's palace where she was being healed and told her that she should not listen to him. The stories that Naraku told were false and InuYasha had nothing to do with it. She would not listen to me and once remarked that those a like stick up for each other. So in her mind I was working with InuYasha and possibly destroyed the village as well. Even when she found out it was not InuYasha she still believe it. When I stole a weapon and armor from the Demon Slayer village it only helped her to come up with some wild stories."

"I see…" said Yoshiko though she didn't quite. There seemed, to her, to be another underlying story. This was the one where Kimiko spread herself out in the good light. Sango would take the darker story and twist it to the point where others around her would wish to help her in her quest to murder Kimiko. It would be Yoshiko's job to shift through both and find the points that fit together so that she may find the true story. But the fact that she thought that at some point one of the two would stab her in the back was not helping. She rubbed her head and was about to say that she was going to sleep when she heard Sango come into the hut. The sun was rising and she knew that there would be no sleep for her tonight. Sighing, she told Kimiko to wait while she went out to talk to Sango and explain to the others what was going on.

* * *

The pouring rain persisted the next day, and Sueko was feeling a runny nose starting by the end of school. Luckily, she brought an umbrella! Unluckily, she had no coat… 

She had just walked off her train and was walking the mile and a half home with her Hello Kitty umbrella. Sueko had owned the umbrella for quite a while and never thought to buy a new one… maybe she should reconsider that idea. At least it was big enough for at least two people to keep out of the rain, even if it was dorky looking. Sometimes comfort was better than style. So she ignored the bright pinkness of her umbrella and walked on.

But after a minute of walking Sueko had the sudden feeling of forgetting something. Though this "gut feeling" was handy at times, it was rather annoying when you couldn't remember what you had forgotten. So now Sueko was left to ponder over what she could have possibly forgotten.

_Homework? Yeah, I'm remembering it all… and even if I don't Keitaro can remind me because he'll be at my house in thirty minutes. There's nothing in my locker I could have forgotten besides my textbook…_ She hastily shuffled through her book bag. _Nope, that's there… God, what else can I be forgetting? I fed the cat this morning… Nothing happens on Wednesday that I'd forget about besides chore day…_

She gave up, speeding up her pace so she could get out of the rain quicker. But as she walked faster the feeling of forgetfulness only grew stronger… Now she was just starting to wonder if it was some Shrine business, but she wasn't in Feudal Day Japan, so why should she be feeling any sort of "magic"?

_It has been a while since I've been there…_ Sueko thought. _Wait, no it hasn't, I was there last Saturday! That's only… um… four days from today. Or maybe three… Maybe Keitaro should make me do my math homework today…_

Something caught Sueko's eye, and she couldn't help that her heart started to race and her eyes go wide.

Red. The same… same _exact_ shade of red as InuYasha's kimono. It _had_ to be him, it _had_ too…

Without another thought, Sueko rushed past the people while trying to not poke someone's eye out with her umbrella or bump into them… or the walls of the buildings… but when the red color finally became a clearer sight Sueko couldn't help but stop in her tracks and sigh in disappointment.

_Why'd I think it was him? Why would it be him? Sure, he wandered around Tokyo and ended up at Keitaro and Tamika's apartment just to see me, but that doesn't mean he's going to do it every time I go through the well. Why'd I think it was him?_

All the red turned out to be was some boy sitting on the sidewalk with his back to a wall and his chin resting on his knees. Sure, his red sweatshirt just _happened_ to be the same shade as InuYasha's outfit, but why'd Sueko have to jump to conclusions for?

But before she could hurry on home Sueko instead hesitated, still standing there as the rain hit her pink umbrella. Okay, so maybe she couldn't see the boy's expression since it was covered by the hood of the sweatshirt—it was a bit big for him, so it was doing a good job of hiding him—but he obviously looked sad. You could tell just by the way he was sitting. And maybe Sueko was being silly—hell, the "boy" could actually be a girl who just _looked_ like a boy since she was wearing boy's clothes—but he still looked sad, and… _Ugh… what am I, Tamika? Actually, maybe Yoshiko would do the same thing…_

While a part of her wondered what the hell she was doing, Sueko slapped a friendly smile on her face and started walking. When she reached the boy—or "girl"—she kneeled down in front of him and said, "Hello! My name's Kimochi Sueko! What's your name?"

_How corny…_ thought Sueko dully. Even in this position she still couldn't see the boy's face—she was pretty sure he was a boy by now—because the hood was covering so much and he had a lot of black hair covering his face. At first he didn't do anything, just blinked a few times. Then he looked up. His eyes were so much like InuYasha's it was rather creepy. But after considering it for a moment they weren't a lot like his at all, just the same color: hazel. Though Sueko tired to forget about her sudden obsession with the half dog demon and think of something to say because the two were just sitting there staring at each other; perhaps the time just felt like it was going slowly but it was actually going the normal time. Sueko didn't know, she didn't wear a watch! She only wore it to Feudal Japan because no one was really helpful with the time there…

"_Hey, Yoshiko, today's Sunday, right?"_

"_What! What's Sunday?"_

So a watch came in handy once and a while.

Her thoughts were interrupted as time suddenly sped up again. The boy blinked at her a few times, then his eyes went wide with shock. Before she knew it the boy was no longer there.

Okay, he was running away a few feet away from her. Whatever. He was just so damn quick it took Sueko a few seconds to register the fact that he was there… and then not…

"Hey!" cried Sueko, getting up and chasing after him, nearly tripping but catching her balance with the help of waving her arms and umbrella madly about for a few seconds. Now he was just being annoying. And she hadn't even met him yet! How lame was that? What kind of manners are those, running away after someone says "hello"?

He was running so fast it was hard to keep up. However, Sueko did have one advantage: the boy obviously wasn't used to running past a crowd of people so he was frequently having to stop in his tracks and jump out of the way at the last minute. Sueko had pretty much lived in some sort of city her whole life so running past large cliques of people was not that hard to accomplish. So within minutes she had caught right up to the speedy brat and, grabbing his arm to turn him around, went, "Hey, wait just a minute—"

Her anger quickly abated away. Instead she felt guilty for her quick temper. For when she glanced at the boy's face it was damp—and not just by the rain—and his eyes were wide in wonderment, like he had just seen a ghost. And then before she could do anything about it he had his arms around her and was saying happily, "Mom! It's really you!"

"Um… WHAT!"

* * *

**Footnotes:**

1 – I have no clue what moral studies are. It just mentioned it on that Japanese site I went to. If you do actually know what it is, tell me! That'd be really useful! Plus I just want to know… won't give me a definition! _cries_

2 – This post is taking place in May… Japanese students start school in April. Judging by the fact Naru graduated from high school in March in _Love Hina _I'm assuming that's when all Japanese students go out. You can do the math to prove me wrong: Japanese students have 240 school days a year, which is 60 days more than American students. Man, I should move to Japan _after_ I'm done with school! ;) Though apparently a lot of days are spent preparing festivals and all that crap so we don't have to feel too sorry for the Japanese, I suppose, since they apparently do fun stuff during school too…

3 – Education is a major thing in Japan. Kids get a lot of pressure from it. So that's why Keitaro is being so negative right here. And considering how much slacking Sueko is doing he should be negative anyways… Sueko's worse than Kagome for god's sake! Why does InuYasha complain for when Kagome probably left more than Sueko does!

4 – Juku is one form of cram school. A cram school is where students go for help with their studies… like a school for school, in a way… though fans of _Love Hina_ already know this! It's after school, and about 60 of Japanese high school students go to these cram schools. Juku offers both unacademic subject help (swimming, calligraphy, abacus, etc., especially for elementary school students) and academic help for help in all levels of entrance exams (You have to take an entrance exam for both high school and college. I've never heard of you needing to take one for junior high/middle school but you might have to for that too. I doubt it, but whatever.).

5 – Yobiko is another form of cram school. This one is solely for high school students preparing for their college entry exams. Some yobiko's are made for a particular college, like Tokyo University, which is the only Japanese college I know of. _cough-Love-Hina-cough_. I think on the site it said you had to complete juku in order to get into yobiko but that sounds really stupid so I'm not totally sure with that one… Both juku and yobiko are pretty expensive, but most families are eager to pay the costs in order to ensure a good future for their children. Cram schools are located in places that are easily accessible, sometimes right by the train station, while high school and college can sometimes be two hours away! And of course this is all by public transportation… gotta love those subways! If they have subways in Japan… All this education is very necessary because when getting a job they look into what schools you went to, so it's not that the Japanese are just a bit obsessed or anything…I suggest you take a look at the website at the end of the footnotes if you want a bit more clarity. It is very informative, and I probably make no sense!

6 – Oniisan means, simply, Big Brother. I thought with Tamika's childish nature she'd like to call Keitaro Big Brother all the time… And just for the hell of it, oneesan means Big Sister. But no one has an older sister in this fan fic… wait, I forgot about Sukiyama! My bad! Emiko doesn't count, Katsumi died… And I forgot which one was older. DON'T KILL ME, RAVYN! Oh, whatever…

7 – Japan does watch a lot of American movies, so being able to watch popular American movies like _Star Wars_ in Japan is not unusual… I ran across a Japanese theater Top 10 list the other day while looking on InuYasha news and they had movies like the _Incredibles_ on there! Only three movies (not including the new InuYasha movie, _Fire on the Mystic Island_, which was playing there also ) were actually Japanese. The rest were American! But I guess being an American myself makes me a bit naive about how other countries respond to us…

8 – I actually looked up a calendar from 2000 on a website and used the correct dates for May 2000 according to the Japanese time. It's an awesome site! The link is at the bottom of all these insane footnotes. It also shows the moon phases so if you ever felt like looking what day and moon phase you were born on it's a cool website for just that. Any-who, InuYasha as a manga was first published in Japan in 1997… so, assuming that's when it takes place, add two years in which Kagome was there and you're at 1999. Kagome died in August, Sueko showed up in September… (Remember, a month went by in between the death and the mysterious "Last One" showing up!) This update takes place in May; so now we're at May 20th, 2000, according to the date Sueko shows up at her own time. If you really analyze the fan fic you might discover we're at July by now or something instead of May… But I've thought of this chapter for MONTHS! **MONTHS!** It's staying as May! The Birthdays are all very important, and them not being in May would just make me annoyed! How are they important? Like I'd tell you… read the damn fan fic and find out yourselves! Besides, it's not like we're going to publish this fan fic or anything… and I don't think a lot of you care that our time thing is screwed up. LIVE WITH IT!

9 – I really tried to find on the Internet any special Japanese birthday customs, with no luck. So I had to just figure something out. I figured a meal would be traditional enough… and being with close family and friends too… which is why Sueko is going to ramble on about her family tree in a few paragraphs. That's all basically her family's traditional birthday celebration… sorry I couldn't be more realistic. I'M NOT JAPANESE! I'm mostly French Canadian and Irish, so there:P

10 – Yes, some schools get half-days on Saturday in Japan. And then on Sunday no school… because it's that "'Day of Rest' day" or whatever… But my friend in Arizona gets out early on Friday's every week so that's not too unusual or anything.

11 – That's nerdy-me being bored and messing around with that calendar website… But hey, Keitaro's a nerd, why wouldn't he do that too? So there you go:P

12 – Ohayo is "Good morning!" in Japanese. It's a lot simpler to type… Oh, I'm just so lazy sometimes… _rolls eyes_

13 – Yes, I'm a pathetic person who draws characters from her fan fic. :P Well, I try… I really suck at drawing. So I actually drew doodles of Sueko wearing that sweater. And the reason why I said it had tengoku written on the sweater was because it has 天国 written on it. As in, Japanese characters. Though most shirts there have random English written on them… but whatever. And just to let you know, tengoku means heaven or paradise… I was thinking along the lines of heaven at the time…

14 – A kotatsu is a short table (you know how Asian tables are all short and the people all sit on little cushions, right!) that has like some heated blanket so your legs are warm while they're under the table. You know, for a perverted manga _Love Hina_ is really educational… It's kinda cold in Japan. Though a kotatsu would be a nice thing to own around here during winter…

15 – According to _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle_, it's actually against the law in Japan to gamble with money. So with the lottery and stuff you win clothes and crap, not money. Which is actually a really smart thing to do, if you think about it…

16 – It always annoyed me how they recited English on anime shows translated into English when it was Japanese class, and Japanese when it was English class… so when I wrote a vocab word from their homework assignment I stayed true to the language. Sorry if that was confusing. I put the English words in _italics_ so they'd stick out and make more sense, but whatever… Any-who, you know how we have words that sound the same when spoken but are spelled differently and have different meanings? Like meet to meat, and there to their, etc… Well, Japanese is like that too sometimes. Well, the romanized words are spelled the same because all they are is the pronunciation of the word (NOTE: romaized words are what you're reading right now). So I put the kanji (well, kanji is just Chinese characters in Japanese… but I don't know the difference between kanji and kana that well, plus I'm lazy, so I just call it all kanji. Don't mind me…) when I was explaining the different versions of engei. Sorry if that was confusing as well… I tried to be as clear as possible. If it was confusing in any way please note what confused you in your review so I can make it clearer in future writings. And I apologize if you can't see Japanese fonts/scripts on your computer and all you see is jibberish… But hey, maybe the jibberish makes a little more sense now.

17 – In Japanese some of the vowels are pronounced differently than they are in English. So for them i would sound like e. So that explains the madness there. ;)

18 – You know how little kids give their pets little dorky pet names, like Hamy for a pet hamster? Well, nezumi is Japanese for mouse, so Tamika named their pet mouse Umi. Actually, I was going to have them have a pet hamster but my—I mean, my sister's—Japanese dictionary didn't have hamster in it, so I did a mouse instead. Though I might have just made my job easier by naming the hamster Hamtaro…

19 – I was trying to think of some excuse as to why a four-to-seven-year-old Tamika would be away from the house for more than 24 hours. And suddenly that thing from _Mulan_ popped into my head: where Mulan was making herself look all pretty for a husband or whatever (If you don't know what _Mulan_ is, it's a Disney movie. And if you don't know what it is you really should watch the damn thing because that's just sad). And I know the Asian's have this dance thing and they wear kimonos and white face make-up and all that stuff so I looked it up on the Internet. I couldn't find that much information but I found a web page on kabuki, which is some theater thing with songs, dancing, and acting—in fact, the Japanese characters for kabuki are the characters for singing, acting and dancing according to the site I went on, so there! Kabuki was created around the 1700's and the plays act out scenes from the early Edo period (1600-1880 is the whole entire Edo period… so like a century after the Warring States age, or the ever-so-famous Feudal Japan ;) ). If any of you out there watch _Samurai Champloo_, that's the time period I'm talking about. Any-who, Nihon Buyo is a form of dance closely related to Kabuki. (Nihon is Japan in Japanese. I have no clue what buyo is…) I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some camp out there that introduced kabuki or nihon buyo to young girls or boys that were interested. I mean, they have ballet camp, right? Whatever… If you want more information about kabuki or nihon buyo you can click on the links offered at the end of the footnotes.

20 – If you haven't gotten it by now, Tamika's a Kiba fan girl. You know, those girls that have insane, obsessive crushes on guys? _cough-Draco-Malfoy-fans-cough _Maybe she'll get over it when she meets some other guy… _cough_

**Websites used:**

Yeah, I know I said I'd post the websites but is flipping out and wouldn't post those either. So maybe next post it'll be nice and let me post it... _glares _Yeah, this website is pissing me off at the moment... And I'm trying to keep the foul language at a minium. I kinda get like InuYasha when I'm pissy. So sorry about the footnote problem and the website problem, I just want to post this update today and do other things before seven o'clock...and I've spent an hour editing and posting this. I don't want to waste any more time. So yeah... Hey, you can reply to our fan fic, right? Because that'd be real spiffy and make me less cranky...


	33. To Tell the Truth

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
Oh, more fan fic! Like my evil, confusing cliffy in the last chapter? Maybe I'll answer your questions in this chapter… If I ever get around to it, that is… Heh. Yeah, not a whole lot to say, besides teasing you all, sorry. Oh, and to tell you to look out for these nifty clues of foreshadowing! _Dramatic music plays in background_ Don't you just _love_ foreshadowing? I'll give you a hint: they have something to do with anime that are mentioned in the chapter, and maybe chapters before... 

Speaking of which, notice how when I mention anime it's so out of date… Half of it probably didn't exist in the year 2000! Especially _Wolf's Rain_ (I believe it was made in 2002). However, Tamika has an obsession with that particular show for a reason! Like, maybe there are some hints there! Anyways, have fun with my new update! Though kept note that I was rather lazy and never re-read through anything so there might be a few errors…

Oh, and if you're reading and find any Lena's, they're supposed to be Tani's. Ravyn was writing the post and forgot her name and was too lazy to look it up (after all, the fan fic is so long it'd take forever to find the right spot… it's reached 424 pages on a word document. Who'd want to go through all that for a name!) so she put Lena… I think I replaced all the Lena's by Tani's but I might not have. Just a little warning that I might have forgotten one. Sorry!

**DISCLAIMER  
**Yet again, you ask me this question. And yet again I say the same thing. Are you people's sculls THAT thick! Because if they are that is just really sad and I worry about the overall state of humanity… 

_Sigh_ When I fall through a well and meet a half dog demon I'll get back to you. But for now I never have met a guy like that, or any of the other characters in InuYasha. Wanna know why? BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL FICTIONAL! Sure, it's nice to pretend it's real, but it's not! It's all Rumiko Takahashi's overactive imagination.

However, characters like Sueko, Yoshiko, Tamika, Keitaro, Rheda, Utako, and other such people that appear in this fan fic but not in the actual TV show or manga are from the overactive imaginations of Ravyn and Kayhera. So NO STEALING!

And there's also this other character that is both in this chapter and the chapter before and maybe the chapter after this one… Kimiko! We actually do not own this character. She belongs to a good friend of Ravyn and me. If you'd ever want to use Kimiko you'd have to whine to her, not us. Though I don't think any amount of whining will get her to let you because that'd just be annoying. Especially since she's remaining anonymous, so it'd be rather hard to contact her to whine at. But we don't own Kimiko, sorry!

And I don't own any anime that's mentioned! Sorry! And I don't own _Star Wars_ or _The Lord of the Rings_… they were created by the genius minds of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Lucas! And Peter Jackson, but that's only for the LOTR movies… And I can't have Keitaro rant on and on about how much they left out in the movies because they didn't come out in American until December 2001 and it wouldn't go in Japan until it goes out in DVD/VHS (that's what it seems like they do… I wouldn't know, I don't actually live there, I just saw a Top Ten list and it had all these movies that in American were already out on video) so that's probably like June… Aww, poor Keitaro. Oh yeah, go read fan fic! And reply!

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-One: To Tell the Truth**

As soon as Yoshiko exited the other room she was met with InuYasha who arms were crossed.

"What is going on?" he snapped.

"How about you listen to me talk to Sango," Yoshiko yelled back, feeling as if her head was about to split open. "Then I'm taking a well deserved nap before my head explodes."

InuYasha rolled his eyes and then rounded upon Sango who was glowering as Yoshiko. Miroku was standing as far back as possibly, carrying Kimiko's weapons. Rin and Shippo exchanged glances and then exited the hut followed by Sesshomaru and Jaken. Finally, Yoshiko sat down staring pointedly at Sango.

"Alright, I've heard your sister's story – " started Yoshiko.

"Half-sister," corrected Sango.

"Yeah, right, whatever! She's a quarter demon… sort of a like a half-demon and related to you," snapped Yoshiko. "That's all that matters to me. So explain to me why you would want to kill her."

"What?" cried InuYasha, staring at Sango wide eyed. The demon slayer refused to meet his eyes. Miroku too seemed a little shocked as he sat down in the corner of the room. InuYasha sat down next to Yoshiko still staring at Sango.

"Well, her father raped my mother and…" started Sango.

"Heard that part," sighed Yoshiko, waving her hand. "So she entered marriage pregnant and died shortly after Kohaku was born because the father was abusive. Something new please."

"It was obvious to me, even as a small child, that she wasn't like the rest of us. Once she was playing with these boys near this cliff. She thought it would be funny to trip them and they went over the edge, taking her with. Though she was extremely injured she didn't die like the boys."

"Yeah, its hard to control your demon strength when your younger," said Yoshiko, nodding. "I hurt my own brother a couple of times on accident. Go on."

"So I grew up a little frightened of her," muttered Sango. "Until I realized that she couldn't be too dangerous if father let her stay. So I started to get to know her and… we sort of befriended. We were with each other often."

"I'm not hearing the regular abuse half-demons get…" muttered InuYasha.

"Oh, she got it," said Sango, rolling her eyes. "Often! Mostly from the women and girls and some of the older men. But you have to admit she was quite beautiful so the boys around our age… well they grew very fond of her and lavished her with gifts. Even those that had told me that they liked me above everyone else would forget about me when Kimiko was around."

"She mentioned something of the sort," sighed Yoshiko, bored. Sango wasn't execrating anything. "Are you going to tell me anything new? I don't care if it's as far fetched as it comes! I missed a good nights rest listening to Kimiko's story, I don't want to heard it again."

"You want her telling stories!" cried InuYasha, staring at her. "Are you feeling alright?"

He started to put a hand on her forehead.

"I'm fine!" she snapped, baring her teeth. She slapped his hand with her own. Then she paused and frowned. "You know what… I need to take a walk… In the fresh air… You can continue listening to Sango's story."

InuYasha and Miroku blinked at her as she stood up. She poked her head into the other room and looked at Kimiko who was sitting perfectly still.

"Would you like to take a walk with me?" sighed Yoshiko. "It probably wouldn't be safe to stay."

"You think Sango is going to try and kill her while – " started InuYasha.

"I was thinking more of Miroku," said Yoshiko heavily, starting out with Kimiko walking behind her stiffly. Her and Sango's eyes met briefly. Yoshiko elegantly brought out her dagger, spinning it around her fingers. "Please, none of that."

The two girls looked away immediately. They started out of the hut and Yoshiko looked one way and then the other. She started to walk up the hill but then paused and turned toward Kimiko.

"Do you mind if I leave you at a friend of mine?" she asked. "She's extremely nice and would probably like a friend… if she'll let herself. Plus she normally needs a lot of help with the house and her siblings so…"

"You're asking if I might do some physical labor for her?" said Kimiko. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because I need to sleep!" cried Yoshiko, whimpering. "I don't normally complain but I really need to just lie down…"

Kimiko's mouth staid a thin line but she nodded and followed Yoshiko's lead. They reached a hut that was full of holes and looked like it was about to fall down all around them. The sounds of children laughing, screaming, yelling and crying floated through the air to them. Yoshiko smiled grimly at Kimiko who had no expression on her face. It was obvious she didn't prefer being in a human village at all. This was to be expected after a childhood of abuse. She wondered if the women trusted even half-demons after her father's abuse.

Sighing, Yoshiko strode over and knocked on the door. A woman with long brown hair and wearing the usual garb of a village woman answered looking haggard and tired. Recognizing Yoshiko she sighed in relief.

"I was just about to visit Raoul's grave," said Tani, closing the door behind her. "I know how much you love children so maybe you could watch the kids while…" she stopped, noticing Kimiko. "Who is she?"

"If you're willing," said Yoshiko, motioning for Kimiko to come forward. "She's going to help you out in return for somewhere she can stay safely."

"Oh…" said Tani, frowning. "For how long?"

"Not very," said Kimiko quickly. "I hope to leave as soon as possible."

"Not until I've figured out Sango's problem," hissed Yoshiko. "And that's not happening until after I've had a good long rest!"

Tani's mouth was a similar line as Kimiko's as she nodded stiffly and set about telling the quarter demon all the children's names and that firewood needed to be chopped. Then she headed off into the woods, holding up her skirt and carrying a bouquet of flowers. She turned back to Yoshiko and noticed that Kimiko had disappeared inside.

"If you wish for quiet," said Tani, "then you might as well sleep in the forest. There's a bed in the old hut. I put it there for sometimes I wish for a nap as well.'

Yoshiko sighed, nodded and headed off wondering how she was going to help Tani along with Kimiko and get rid of this headache. Why couldn't Sueko just come back? How long had it been anyways? She just couldn't remember this sort of thing anymore. Thankfully she fell onto the cot inside the half finished hut and fell asleep almost instantly. Though it was fitful, filled with earth stones going dark, the figure of her father killing Katsumi and herself stabbing Sesshomaru who always turned into Raoul wondering why she would do this to him after all they had been through. She woke up with a familiar laugh ringing through her ears.

* * *

_Her anger quickly abated away. Instead she felt guilty for her quick temper. For when she glanced at the boy's face it was damp—and not just by the rain—and his eyes were wide in wonderment, like he had just seen a ghost. And then before she could do anything about it he had his arms around her and was saying happily, "Mom! It's really you!"_

"_Um… WHAT!"_

The boy raised his head, the look of utter happiness still plastered on his face. Then he frowned slightly as if thinking. "You're a lot younger than you should be. What are you, a teenager?"

"Um… yes… last time I checked…" said Sueko in a high-pitched voice, feeling extremely weirded out.

"I thought the locket was supposed to get me to the right time, not the future's past!" said the boy, letting go of Sueko and crossing his arms. "Why'd you give it to me if it wasn't going to work right?"

"What?" said Sueko squeakily. "What locket?"

"But maybe I'm supposed to go farther back than I thought… I don't know, I don't really get it… you didn't exactly have a whole lot of time to clarify it…"

"What in the hell are you talking about?" cried Sueko, practically yelling. But the boy was sounding like he was talking to himself—like what Tamika does once and a while, and sometimes Yoshiko… hey, why was she thinking of Yoshiko suddenly?—and she kind of wanted his attention.

The boy looked up like he was just noticing her standing there. Then he sighed and put his arms to his side in a gloomy way. "I guess I make no sense, do I?"

"No, you do not!" said Sueko, nodding her head in agreement. Then she decided that if she was going to get any answers out of the kid she better start acting a bit kinder so she sighed and said in a sweet voice, "Let's just start all over again and see where that gets us. I'm Kim—"

"I already got your name," said the boy impatiently. "Though I suppose you don't know mine yet?"

"No, I don't," said Sueko frustratingly. "Why do you keep talking like you know me?"

The boy ignored her question. "I'm Toboe!" he said, pointing at himself with his thumb. Then he suddenly made a face, then…

"ACHOO!"

"Let's get out of the rain…" muttered Sueko, pulling the kid into a roofed alley.

"So did I just hear you right?" said Sueko, shaking some of the rain off her umbrella (it wasn't like she needed it at the time being). "You're name is… _Toboe_?" (1)

"Uh huh!"

"Um…"

"Yeah, its kind of a weird name… apparently you got it out of some anime thingy…"

Sueko groaned. "Why do you talk like you know me?"

"Because I do?" said Toboe, cocking his head. (2)

"That doesn't help me any…"

"Sorry…"

Sueko sighed, unsure of what to say. Then she suddenly burst out, "And why'd you call me 'mom' for!"

"Because you are…" said Toboe.

"But… that's impossible!" cried Sueko, suddenly talking very fast. "I'm only seventeen! I haven't had sex yet! I rarely even _think_ about sex! I'm not even sure I have a boyfriend because the one I have is being really confusing… I'm pretty sure I haven't had sex with _him_ yet!"

"Ahh!" cried Toboe, shaking his head and waving his arms in front of him. Apparently he was just as uncomfortable with the subject as Sueko.

"Well, that's how you get a kid!" snapped Sueko, hands on her hips. "You have sex!"

"That's nice!" snapped Toboe. "Do I want to hear about it? NO!"

Sueko groaned, leaning her head on the brick wall behind her. They weren't getting anywhere at all.

"So how am I your mom again?"

"Look," said Toboe with a sigh, "I was in, to you, Japan's _past_ before, then you in Japan's _past_ gave me the locket so I could go through the well, which was destroyed _there_, hoping that it would tap into the well's time thingy and get me through. And it did. But I really don't think I'm in the right time frame because you're way too young. But I don't know exactly what time I should be in anyways so—"

"Wait, wait, _wait_!" snapped Sueko. "How do _you_ know about the well?"

"Well, it's kind of right by the village I live at… everyone knows about the Bone Eater's well…" he said with a shrug.

"How do I know if I should trust you, huh?" said Sueko, crossing her arms. "You could be some bad guy trying to trick me into doing something for all I know."

"Um, okay…" said Toboe sarcastically, "except I don't think a twelve year old is that threatening, plus I have no weapons…"

"You're twelve?" said Sueko curiously. "You look… nine or something. Way too short for a twelve year old, that is…"

"I'm just _short_, okay?" snapped Toboe, reminding Sueko a lot like how she reacted when people questioned her height.

"Sorry…" she sighed, trying to sound like she really meant it. "Okay, so you aren't an evil demon… How do I know whether or not to trust you?"

"I don't know…" said Toboe, shrugging with defeat. He was just about to lean against the wall behind him when it looked like something caught his eye. With his eyes wide Toboe started walking closer to Sueko as if to get closer to whatever he was looking at.

Worryingly, Sueko backed away from him and said, "What are you doing?"

"The locket…" said Toboe slowly, pointing at Sueko's neck. "It's the same locket…"

"What, this?" said Sueko, picking up Keitaro's locket from around her neck. Then Toboe started digging around from underneath his sweatshirt until he pulled out what looked like Keitaro's locket from around his neck. But that wasn't the weirdest part. When Toboe fumbled around with his sweatshirt he accidentally knocked his hood off, which he hadn't taken off yet. At first Sueko was just amused by the fact his black hair looked a ton more messier with it off—not in the "haven't brushed your hair" way, just in the way it sat on his head—and the fact it was pretty long looking, though most of it was still under the sweatshirt. Then she gasped as she noticed what else was now in plain view: two black dog-like ears on top of his head.

"They're just like…" breathed Sueko, putting a hand to her chest in hopes it would stop beating so rapidly as she backed away even more until she bumped into the wall. "They're just like… InuYasha's…"

"Huh?" said Toboe, his dog ear's flicking to match the confused expression on his face.

* * *

Despite having a troubled sleep, Yoshiko woke up refreshed around noon. She exited the hut and stretched out and suddenly realized she was still in her silk dress. It was wrinkled, ripped and covered in blood by now (though the blood wasn't nearly as recognizable except for its smell). Moaning, she wandered down to Ringo's hut and knocked at the board. The old man came bursting out of the hut and gave her a large hug before she could protest. Then he looked at her clothes, clucking his tongue disapprovingly. 

"Good thing my girls just finished your clothes!" laughed Ringo, pulling her into the hut. He was so short she had to stoop to follow and keep her balance.

They entered and she saw a few vases around the room that now lay empty. Some even still kept the stems of old flowers. Ringo had never been a very neat man and she had a feeling they were still there from when Raoul died. Sighing, Yoshiko waited as Ringo entered another room and came out with a set of clothing. At the sight of the kimono made Yoshiko was so happy that she pounced on it and put it on quickly before she noticed that it was green. Not purple. Green. She stopped and blinked down at it.

"Something wrong?" asked Ringo, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh… well… no, not exactly…" muttered Yoshiko. "But… Um… why is it green?"

"Why is it…" started Ringo. Then he burst out laughing. "Please, you're the priestess of the earth shrine! Shouldn't your robes be green like the earth?"

"Well, yes… I guess…" sighed Yoshiko, feeling like a child. "I'm not a priestess though! Besides, I've always been wearing purple. Its kind of weird to wear something different."

"But the green brings out your eyes much better!" cried Ringo. "Really, you can be a very pretty girl but you have to… er… play on your assets."

He turned around and made the figure of a very curvy girl in the air with his hands. Yoshiko felt her cheeks turn pink and she quickly exited the hut, saying a rushed good-bye. Once outside, she took a deep breath and started to take a walk. But she had hardly reached the edge of the village when some little kids surrounded her. Eyes wide, Yoshiko spun around looking for some adult. Then she realized that all the adults would be cooking, cleaning, farming and hunting. Sighing, she put on a smile and looked around.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Priestess Yoshiko!" cried a little girl. "Are you really a demon?"

"No, stupid!" snapped one of the boys. "She's only a half-demon. She must be weak and that's why they let her in the village."

"You're the one that's stupid!" shouted another girl. "Priestess Yoshiko helped to protect this village."

"Yeah!" agreed one of the eldest boys.

"Alright, alright!" said Yoshiko, holding up her hands. "That's enough fighting. I'm a half-demon. Yes, I'm not as strong as a full demon and I have helped the village out before. But I am not a priestess."

"But you must!" cried the first girl. "I've heard that you can control fire."

"Yes…" said Yoshiko through tight lips. "But that's because of this magic stone that I have and…"

"Boring!" cried the first boy.

"Look, this is enough!" snapped Yoshiko. "We don't need to be arguing. Now let's go for a walk and then you can come back for dinner."

"Yay!" cried the children except for a few of the older ones. They grabbed the hands of a couple of children and led them on. Yoshiko sighed in relief and grabbed the first girl's hand. As they walked she noticed a couple of trees and bushes. She pointed them out and asked if they would like to rest there. The children all nodded. As they neared a few of the children broke away and ran off toward the shade and the spring that came up at the trees. Once there, Yoshiko was about to sit down to rest because of the heat when she heard something. A few children screamed and she turned, catching an arrow as it neared.

Narrowing her eyes, she saw the man in the bushes and snapped the arrow in two with her hand. Then quicker than she had ever gone she jumped into the bushes and caught the man around the neck. She glanced over at the children.

"Go! Stay together, don't panic, and get back to the village," she snapped.

Once again the older ones took charge, grabbing some of the younger children's hands and leading them off. Yoshiko didn't look to see if they made it but turned back toward the man. He had dropped his bow in surprise and fear and was quivering. Yoshiko felt her grip tightening even though she wanted to question this man. But a part of her just wanted to crush him. And reveled at it. Just as she was sure she was going to kill him a hand grabbed her wrist and she dropped the man, suddenly afraid of what she was doing. The grip on her wrist wasn't tight but it didn't loosen. Yoshiko took a step back as InuYasha crouched down next to the man, looking him in the eye.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked. "Trying to kill Yoshiko? You're only a mortal, how did you think you would succeed?"

"I—I—I…" stuttered the man, looking from the person holding Yoshiko's wrist to InuYasha. "I was ordered to! B—B—B—Because she's only a demon pretending to be a priestess and has everyb—b—body under a spell."

"Feh," said InuYasha. "So, who ordered you?"

The man just gulped but didn't answer.

"You're brave but I have ways of making people talk," said InuYasha, raising a hand and cracking his knuckles.

"Please don't hurt me!" cried the man, bowing down and exposing his neck and back.

Then she felt it. An icy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her head felt like it was going to split open for a second. Then she found herself kneeling on the ground and the man was dead, a tiny dart stuck in the back of his neck. Sesshomaru still had a fairly good grip on her wrist staring at her intently. She got to her feet shakily and saw InuYasha and Sango return from another patch of bushes and trees. Yoshiko wondered when Sango had shown up but then realized that she had been with InuYasha but he was quicker than her. She must have went after InuYasha when he rushed over to stop Yoshiko from killing the man.

"It was Kimiko! I'm sure of it!" snapped Sango, glowering at InuYasha.

"I'm telling you, I didn't smell her scent around here," said InuYasha patiently, but his patience was obviously growing thin.

"God damn it!" cried Sango. "You don't get it! She's not like you or Yoshiko! She likes to kill. Her father was not as kind as your parents were."

"Hey, I didn't even know my father!" snapped InuYasha. "Besides, its nurture not nature that makes a person. From the sounds of it, Kimiko shouldn't have turned out any worse than me or Yoshiko. Other than a little bit more uncalled for abuse after she had grown up."

"Oh, so you're going to blame me?" cried Sango. "Her father abused her just as much – "

"Exactly," said InuYasha, crossing his arms. "So why would she want to turn out like him?"

"Besides," added Yoshiko. "You just admitted to abusing her. Maybe you are to blame."

"You… you… you two are impossible!" shouted Sango. Just then Kimiko showed up, looking around and her eyes landed on Yoshiko. She started striding purposefully toward her but then her eyes lighted upon Sango and she paused. Then, raising an eyebrow at Yoshiko, she walked away obviously hoping to avoid Sango.

"When she kills you I won't lose an ounce of sleep over it because it was your own damn fault!" hissed Sango, glaring after Kimiko.

With that she turned on her heels and strode off. InuYasha stared at Yoshiko and Sesshomaru with his eyebrows raised. Then he sighed and walked after her, keeping a good distance behind. Before he had disappeared, though, Yoshiko saw him glance back at her worriedly. She tried to pull out of Sesshomaru's grip but he wouldn't let go. She tried again but his grip only tightened. She sighed.

"Let me go," she said simply, not in the mood to fight. She had been hoping not to have to talk to him.

"You should rest," said Sesshomaru.

"I just had a nap!" snapped Yoshiko. "Now let me go."

"You're not yourself," said Sesshomaru. "You should rest."

"God, how about we say something new!" cried Yoshiko. "Hi, how are you? I'm fine. Let me go!"

Sesshomaru eyes merely narrowed but he slowly let go of her wrist, turned around and strode off. Yoshiko blinked after him. Perhaps she could have been a bit nicer to him. He had been worried about her and had only been trying to help. Maybe she should go after him and…

"Feh…" muttered Yoshiko, throwing up her hands and walked way.

* * *

"How in God's name do you have dog ears?" shrieked Sueko. 

"Um… Is it really that big of a deal?" sighed Toboe, looking up as his ears wiggled again.

"Stop teasing me by their… wiggling…" said Sueko.

"They just do that…" growled Toboe annoyingly. "Don't tell me you _haven't_ even met InuYasha yet, or Yoshiko or—"

"How do you know them?" snapped Sueko.

"Why do you think?" snapped Toboe, glaring.

"Hey! I'm not the weird kid who claims to be my kid!" hissed Sueko. "I have no reason to trust you! For all I know you're some puppet of Hotaka or something!"

After the last sentence Toboe no longer looked irritated—his face paled and he suddenly looked frightened.

With a smirk Sueko said, "Ha! I'm right after all! You _are_ working for Hotaka after all, aren't you?"

Toboe flinched. Then he snapped, "You don't understand, do you?"

"I think it's pretty clear to me!" said Sueko cockily. Then her eyes widened, surprised at her boldness. What was going on with her today? Must be this cold mixing up her emotions…

The boy turned around, his back to Sueko. Then after clenching his fists several times he said in a somewhat shaky voice, "You shouldn't jump to conclusions. I would NEVER work for Hotaka… ever…"

"Um…" said Sueko, taking aback. "Okay? Why?"

"Do you even know who Hotaka _is_?" said Toboe with the same shaky voice. Like he was trying really hard not to cry or something, which was really weird…

"Of course I do!" said Sueko. "I met him once! He nearly made Yoshiko kill Sesshomaru! How could I suddenly forget _that_?"

"I guess there is too much of a time difference!" cried Toboe in defeat.

"Um…" said Sueko, wanting to comfort the kid even though she had just yelled at him seconds ago, but had no clue what to do about it. "See, this is what I don't get," she said soothingly—at least, that's what she was trying to sound like. "You say you're from a different time frame—and I believe you, okay? It's just… It doesn't sound like you're from Feudal Japan, or, at least, the one I go to…"

"It is Feudal Japan!" said Toboe, turning around to face her again. His face was wet again and his eyes wide. Well, they were pretty wide normally… wider than usual. "Just…" he stopped, looking stumped. Sueko waited patiently until it looked like a light bulb went on in his head and he said, "When'd you get that locket?"

"This?" said Sueko, lifting it up again. "Two days ago… Monday…"

"So the locket let me go back in time to the time you first got the locket from your friend…" muttered Toboe. "So maybe you did send me to the right time after all…"

"…And this is when you start to make no sense again," said Sueko sweetly.

"Well then…" Toboe started, looking like he was thinking very hard, "how about we go to your house and I'll explain there—"

"No, you'll explain now!" cried Sueko. "I can't wait that long! The curiosity would kill me! Plus, you realize I'll be bugging you the whole way there about it, right?"

"Oh… fine…" muttered Toboe. "Okay… So you got the part where I'm from Feudal Japan but the future, right?"

"Sure… I guess…"

"Well…" started Toboe.

_Normally he didn't wake up in the middle of the night. Normally he didn't get up at all until someone woke him up because it was like he was dead to the world or something… Well, that's how some people liked to put it. _

_Before he could ponder about the matter and wake up properly Toboe was suddenly coughing. And it wasn't until his eyes adjusted to the dark that he saw the smoke in the air… and with a look around he saw that no one else was in the room except for him._

_So he tore out of the house and outside. At first all he could see was the bright light from the many flames on top of the houses in the village. In the bright light Toboe couldn't see where he was going real well and nearly tripped when he stumbled across something soft on the ground. Looking down to see what it was, Toboe's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch and he blanched._

"…_Dad?" he moaned, falling to his knees and shaking InuYasha by the shoulders a bit. But he should of known by the amount of blood that it wouldn't do any good. The least he could do was close InuYasha's eyes… Dead people's open eyes were really creepy…_

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" cried Sueko. "Don't tell me InuYasha's your dad?"

"This isn't exactly the easiest thing to explain, okay?" snapped Toboe.

"But… but… I'm your mom! So if InuYasha's your dad that means… Eww…"

"It's not that big of a deal…"

"Yes it is! That means we officially got together. And we… eww…"

"Could you get out of your perverted teenage fantasy and get back to reality so I can continue! Please…"

"I'm not Miroku! But come on! I just found out I had sex with my boyfriend! Who I didn't even think was really my boyfriend! How can I not be the least bit upset about that! And you can't pull the teenager excuse on me because in a few years you'll be a perverted little brat!"

"I will not!"

"Oh, you _so_ will!"

"CAN I CONTINUE?"

"I guess…" said Sueko huffily, crossing her arms and trying to ignore her hot face.

"Okay… Let's see…"

_So he got up and turned away, trying not to look at the dead body and not puke at the same time. But then he suddenly started running, trying to find mom while praying to God she wasn't dead either._

_They were just on the other side of one of the flaming huts… Sueko and Hotaka. She already had a few cuts on her arms, legs, and face, as though she wasn't able to dodge Hotaka's weapon quick enough. They both had their weapons drawn but neither were using them, as though taking a break and talking to each other instead. Indeed, Hotaka was about to open his mouth to say something when something caught his eye. He turned and, seeing Toboe attempting to hid behind the wall of a flamed hut, smirked._

"_Look who came out," he said teasingly, turning back to Sueko._

_She looked confused, but when she turned her head she looked fearful instead. "Toboe… Get out of here! Now!"_

_But he couldn't. Not only could he not stand running away and letting his mother die without doing something about it, but Toboe was also frozen with fear as well._

"Wait," said Sueko, a bit nicer this time. "Where are Sango, Miroku and Yoshiko? Shouldn't they be there as well?"

"Hotaka killed Sango, Miroku, their two kids five years ago, and Yoshiko and her family one…" said Toboe.

"Oh…" said Sueko, feeling it all sinking in now.

Toboe continued.

"_Ah, don't go just yet!" said Hotaka. "Do you really expect him to survive this, Sueko?"_

"_Yes, I do," said Sueko firmly._

"_Well, someone needs a reality check!" laughed Hotaka. "But the question is who should I kill first? Should I let the mother watch her only son die or the other way around?"_

_Sueko didn't let him say another word, going at him with her sword. Hotaka blocked it easily with his flaming sword, saying almost pityingly, "You swing it so recklessly… It's even worse when you're suffering emotionally. At least with InuYasha he was a bit quicker… I guess you won't be as fun though…"_

What do I do?_ thought Toboe feverishly, looking around for a weapon of some sorts. But all that the dead villagers around him had were spears and arrows. Throwing really wasn't his thing. He was better with a sword but there were none around. And he wasn't about to pull the Tetsusaiga off his father's dead body._

_The clanging of steal against steal interrupted his thoughts. Both tried to harm the other while blocking the other's attacks, causing them to not get anywhere. Though the two looked pretty tired so someone was going to slip up any second now… Aiming higher than before, Sueko managed to slash Hotaka across the chest, but he dodged the swing a bit so it wasn't that bad of an injury. Grimacing with frustration, Hotaka followed the same idea… except for this time he aimed _lower_, and he didn't swing his sword, he stabbed. So his flamed sword went just below her ribs. And then before she could fall Hotaka held her by the neckline of her light blue kimono to flash her a toothy grin before twisting the sword out of her and pushing her aside._

"_MOM!" cried Toboe, suddenly being able to move his limbs again as he rushed to his mothers side. She was still alive but she was already so pale…_

"_I thought I told you to get away from here…" muttered Sueko, her eyes narrowing._

"_I don't' want to lose you!" cried Toboe, tears streaming down his face._

"_I'm not dead _yet_!" snapped Sueko. She closed her eyes and breathed a few shaky breaths. When she opened them she starting fumbling around with something around her neck._

"_What are you doing? You're hur—"_

"_Hush!" hissed Sueko, finally finding what she was looking for: the golden necklace she always wore around her neck. Not that Toboe had a clue what she wanted to do with it…_

"_Take it," said Sueko, handing him the locket._

"_What?"_

"_Just take it!" said Sueko, shoving it into Toboe's hand. "Now, you remember where the Bone Eater's well is?"_

"_Yes, but—"_

"_I don't have much time," muttered Sueko. "Just… it should get you through, since it's originally from modern day—well, the future… Look, just warn the others about the Dark Stones."_

"_Huh?" said Toboe, very confused._

"_Well," said Sueko, smiling slightly, "it should get you to just the right time frame where you can warn everyone about the Dark Stones before Hotaka kills us all. Because if Yoshiko had just told us a bit _earlier_ and didn't doubt herself we wouldn't all be dead, now would we?"_

"_But what about—"_

"_I'll be fine," said Sueko, smiling reassuringly. "Now go!"_

_Toboe nodded and stood up. Not that he wanted to go… but he knew there would be no point in sitting there any longer. But just when he turned around to head towards the Bone Eater's well at the edge of the village he heard Sueko cry out in pain._

_He spun around so fast he lost his balance and nearly fell down. But when he got a clearer look he really did fall down. Hotaka had stabbed Sueko in the chest, and he had just lifted his sword out of her body with a look of disgust on his face. Then he turned his head to meet Toboe's eyes._

_Hotaka rolled his eyes. "You should have left when you had the chance. Now I have to kill you too…"_

_Again, Toboe lost the ability to move his limbs. Instead he was lying on the ground like an idiot with a sword right at his neck—a sword on _fire_, none-of-the-less. All he was left to do was hope death wouldn't hurt too much. Hey, maybe he would be able to see everyone else again…_

"_Hotaka," someone said—someone behind Toboe that he couldn't see. It was a deep voice that sounded familiar but he couldn't remember whom it could belong to. But whoever it was Hotaka could see them, and after glancing up to see who they were, widened his eyes slightly and moved the swords blade away from Toboe's neck._

"_You aren't dead yet? I killed your wife _ages_ ago… I thought after a while you'd give up looking for me and get yourself recklessly killed…"_

_Toboe turned his head, ignoring the danger it brought in doing so and letting his curiously take over. He blinked a few times, not quite believing what he was seeing. But when he finally believed it he couldn't help smiling a little. All along Toboe knew he wasn't dead yet, even though his parents insisted that it was false hope. Really though, how can someone like Sesshomaru be so easily defeated?_

_Sesshomaru was different looking than how Toboe remembered. Even though Yoshiko wanted to settle down and have a family and Sesshomaru went along with it, there were still times when he would leave the village for a little while, sometimes to find Rin—a young woman who still wanted to travel around like she had when she was a kid and was always out and about with Jaken, the annoying green imp—and sometimes to fine leads on some demon, usually Hotaka. And sometimes they got into some quarrel and he left to cool down. So when Hotaka attacked Yoshiko, Mika, and her other two children Sesshomaru had been away yet again. When he came back and heard the news he left again to avenge her death. After not seeing him again for several months InuYasha and Sueko had doubts about his return. After a year and a half they decided he must have died and stopped wondering about it. Despite all of this, Toboe had always marveled at the full dog demons strength—even though being around him for long periods of time kind of weirded him out, since all he did was stand there not saying anything and staring—and couldn't believe that Sesshomaru had been defeated by Hotaka, even when all of his parents friends had meet their defeat from the same powerful demon. It was nice to know he was right all along, even though it made Toboe feel guilty to even consider feeling haughty about being right._

_But now, looking at the thought-to-be-dead-Sesshomaru, you could tell that the last two years hadn't been the best for the guy. His face looked tired and weary, his kimono dirty and torn, his once silky silver hair tangled. Though before it looked like he took great care in his appearance it now looked like he hadn't because he had spent so much time grieving Yoshiko's death—you could tell by the look in his narrow, hazel eyes._

_Sesshomaru looked around at his surroundings vaguely, taking note of the villagers' bodies and Sueko's dead body. It took him a while to notice Toboe, and when he did he growled, "What are you still doing here? Go to the well!"_

"_Huh?" said Toboe, still on the ground._

"_Isn't that what your mother told you to do?" said Sesshomaru calmly, as though he was merely scolding him for doing something he wasn't supposed to, like be outside in the rain or eating too many sweets._

_Toboe looked down at his hand as if finally realizing he was holding on to the locket. He was just starting to get up and leave when someone laughed. And it was then that Toboe remembered Hotaka was still there._

"_I don't think so," said Hotaka, smirking as he raised his sword. "Not if I have I say in it."_

_Before he could raise his sword down completely Sesshomaru rushed over and blocked the attack with his sword… Toki… Toki-something…_

"Tokijin," said Sueko automatically.

"What?" said Toboe, surprised by the interruption. "Oh… Well, I never got the point of naming inanimate objects so…"

"Because it's cool!" said Sueko. "Well, that's why they do it in anime. I don't even know why I remember the name of Sesshomaru's sword, I just do… Speaking of which, I have yet to give mine a name! What kind of name for a sword is 'the Last One's sword'? I mean, hello, how lame!"

"Um…" said Toboe.

"Oh, right! Don't mind me, babbling on!" said Sueko, shaking her head. "You can continue now!"

_So Sesshomaru blocked the attack with the Tokijin. Of course, this didn't please Hotaka a whole lot. Hotaka seemed bored of his job and wanted everyone to die already. So he immediately started attacking Sesshomaru. However, Sesshomaru was so quick he blocked every attack effortlessly, only getting someone scratched once._

_Toboe was still lying on the ground, watching the two fighting and completely forgetting about everyone else. But then Sesshomaru glanced back at Toboe and growled, "Get out of here!" and, slightly startled, scurried away._

_As he ran, he wondered if Sesshomaru was actually going to defeat Hotaka after all or be killed like everyone else—or if it all really mattered anymore. He didn't quite get what his mother wanted him to do. Hotaka had destroyed the well seven years ago so no one could go back to Sueko's time frame and hide out. So how was a locket going to get him through? So what if it was originally from Sueko's time? He still didn't see how it could possibly work… but what else was there to hope for?_

_When Toboe got there he got on his knees, moving away the broken pieces of wood, stone, and dirty away while wondering what good it'd do. After several minutes of digging at the Bone Eater's well's site he had yet to tap into whatever amazing powers would send him back through time and he was in a state of hopeless despair, half expecting Hotaka to jump out of the bushes and end his life. But suddenly Toboe felt something pulling his left hand—the one holding the locket—and all of his surroundings vanished as a sort of blue light surrounded him. And he felt like he was falling, but falling so slowly it was as though he was floating… but as quickly as it happened it stopped and Toboe suddenly found himself dropping on a hard stone ground._

_Did it work? He was obviously in a different place… Toboe looked up only to see darkness. However, he did spot some sort of vine dangling on one of the walls and, seeing nothing else to do, he climbed up. And once he reached the surface met a strange and loud world filled with everything but what he was used to._

"…And I've pretty much just been wandering around… I kind of stole these clothes because the ones I was wearing had too much blood on them and everyone was giving me weird looks… They hid the ears and helped me blend in a bit. And then… What?" said Toboe suddenly, looking up at Sueko's face, which had a peculiar expression on it.

"It's just…" said Sueko tentatively. Then she shook her head. "I'm sorry for thinking you were evil. Then again, if you still turn out to be evil… Well, you're a damn good liar and story teller and you should get a noble prize… if they had one for lies and even handed them out to evil people, that is…"

Toboe laughed slightly, except it quickly turned to a cough afterwards.

"How long have you been out here, exactly?" said Sueko sheepishly.

"Um… two days?"

"Okay, that's it! Out of the pouring rain and straight to the kotatsu for you!" said Sueko, pulling up her umbrella and dragging Toboe out of the alley. (3)

"Ko-tat-what?"

"Honestly! You Feudal Japan people know _nothing_!" muttered Sueko, rolling her eyes.

So the two went straight to Sueko's house, occasionally saying a few things here and there. But then Sueko suddenly remembered something and went, "Hey, you came here to warn me about something, right? So, warn away…"

"Huh?" said Toboe. "Oh… um… Yeah, Dark Stones…"

"What about them?"

"I don't know a whole lot about them myself," said Toboe, shrugging. "Basically it's something Hotaka has, I think he gets his powers from them, and Yoshiko never warned you about them… Yeah, that's about it…"

"So I guess I'll have to wait until I see Yoshiko again before I figure out more," said Sueko with a sigh.

It was then that they had finally reached Sueko's house. She hastily shook as much rain out of her umbrella as she could before opening the front door to walk in and cry out, "I'm home!" to whoever was around. She was just about to rush downstairs to drop off her stuff when she remembered Toboe was there, which was rather weird, actually. So she said a bit timidly, "Um… I'll just be upstairs real quick to drop my stuff off… Er… Make yourself at home," before walking up the stairs, wondering how a kid that had gone through all that could just simply "make himself at home."

But when she got downstairs a few minutes later with a clean—not to mention dry and warm—set of clothes Sueko found that it wasn't too bad. She just found him poking at the television curiously. It was actually rather cute. Sueko couldn't help but imagine InuYasha's reaction to a television and, though it probably happened when he first met Kagome because it had certainly never happened when he came over here now, it wouldn't have been as cute as Toboe's reaction. InuYasha would probably just stand there glaring at it, as if daring it to do something.

Man, she had a weird boyfriend… husband… _Eww…_

Just then something furry rubbed against Sueko's leg and meowed and, smiling, picked up Neko the cat while fondly rubbing the back of her ear. Then an idea came to her and she cheerfully went along with it.

"Hey, this should cheer you up!" said Sueko merrily, walking over to Toboe and holding up her cat. When she was a little kid it was what her mother always did to cheer her up when she was upset or sick. And if anyone in the whole world needed cheering up in Sueko's mind it'd have to be Toboe.

His reaction was not the one she had in mind. Seeing the cat, he yelped and jumped behind the television set, peeping out the side of it a few seconds either to see if it was still there.

"It's just a cat…" said Sueko, trying not to laugh. "What, are you allergic?"

"No…" said Toboe, still hiding. "They just kind of creep me out…"

Today was just full of surprises. Sueko didn't think she'd ever meet a person who was _terrified_ of cats! But then again, she didn't think she'd ever meet a random kid on the street who claimed to be from the "future" and her son. But she supposed the had to be a first for everything… It was rather unusual to move into a new house with a time traveling well, after all…

"Well…" said Sueko, trying to fix the awkward silence. She set the cat down and pulled Toboe out from behind the television set. "Look, you just push this right here and it turns on…"

"Ack!"

"Hmm…" said Sueko, looking at the program. "Hey, I know that show! I love _Digimon_! I used to watch it as a kid! Hey, I remember this episode! It's when Davis and Ken have to go and—"

Sueko was interrupted by the doorbell, which suddenly rang… Toboe jumped up in surprise.

"Oh, don't worry, that's just the doorbell!" said Sueko quickly. "So we know when people are at the door… Um… if you just excuse me I'll go see who it is… Have fun with _Digimon_!"

Then Sueko rushed over to the door, wondering who it could be. When she opened the door she suddenly felt really stupid.

"Sorry we're late," said Keitaro, letting himself in. "Tamika was holding me up…"

"Well, _sorry_ if I wanted to change into some warmer clothes, you… you... you meanie!" said Tamika, following Keitaro to the living room.

"Um…" said Sueko, severely taken aback. She had completely forgotten that her friends were going to show up! "Wait a second…"

"Uh…" said Keitaro, hesitating at the doorway.

"Oh, he's so cute!" cried Tamika, rushing over to hug Toboe. "Oh, and you even have little kitty ears!" she added, rubbing one of them too.

"I'm a quarter _dog_ demon, thank-you-very-much!" cried Toboe, turning a bit pink.

"Uh… Oh dear…" mumbled Sueko. "Er…" She turned to Keitaro and sighed. "Um, Keitaro, Tamika, meet Toboe! Yeah, uh… Toboe, this is Keitaro and the one hugging you is Tamika…"

"Oh… my… God… You're name is Toboe?" said Tamika, letting go of Toboe and looking at him in shock.

"Uh… Yeah?" said Toboe, confused.

"Oh… THAT MAKES YOU EVEN CUTER!"

"A friend from Feudal Japan, I take it," said Keitaro, looking annoyed.

"Yes… Sorry, it was all very sudden and—" started Sueko but Keitaro interrupted.

"I'm not annoyed at you. I'm annoyed at Tamika and her stupid _Wolf's Rain_ obsession!"

"Uh…"

"There's a character on there named Toboe… Ugh, why do I have to waste brain cells remembering this stuff?"

"Oh… Oh yeah! I should watch that sometime…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"Oh, wow, _Digimon_ is on!" cried Tamika. "I _love_ that show! Almost as much as _Wolf's Rain_!"

"Oh… my… God…" sighed Sueko and Keitaro. Toboe just looked very, very, _very_ confused.

* * *

All this lack of sleep was starting to get to Yoshiko. She had hardly laid down to sleep when she heard somebody cry out. People got up and ran out and there was the clash of swords. Yoshiko started to moan and turn over, hoping that the others would take care of it. But when the sounds only got louder she started to get angry and jumped to her feet, storming out of the hut. Kimiko was laying on the ground, her lip bleeding and good number of bruises on her arm. Wood lay around her and she clutched at her sword. Not too far away was InuYasha, who was holding a struggling Sango. She had a black eye and a cut down her arm. Her sword, however, was laying a few feet away as Miroku helped Kimiko to her feet. 

"What the hell?" cried Yoshiko, her hair disheveled as she glared from Kimiko to Sango. "Can you just pretend that you like each other till morning?"

She felt Sesshomaru's eyes on her but she didn't care. Yoshiko continued to glare at Sango who finally stopped struggling against InuYasha. He loosened his grip but didn't leave entirely. Somebody cried out again and she turned to see Kimiko sitting back down on the ground, grabbing her ankle. Miroku kneeled down and took a look at it and then turned to Yoshiko gravely. She didn't need him to tell her that it was obviously broken. It was already starting to swell and turning a nasty shade of purple. Forgetting about Sango, InuYasha walked over, picked up Kimiko and carried her into the hut. Sesshomaru walked over to Sango and started to grab her arm but she shook him off.

"I don't know how you can trust her to gather firewood for one of your friends," snapped Sango. "Or is that just her story and really she was taking that wood to burn the hut down?"

"Oh my god!" cried Yoshiko, throwing her hands into the hair. "You just don't get it! Kimiko may have made some mistakes but I sincerely doubt she's going to try and kill any of us."

"You're just not frightened of her because you have more demon blood than her," spat Sango. "But the rest of this village is quite as lucky as you."

"I don't give a damn about demon blood!" shouted Yoshiko. "In fact, I wish I didn't have any! But she hasn't given me any reason not to trust her. I don't think there's ever been a time when I trusted somebody and was wrong about them. Not once!"

"I would say Sesshomaru but he's obviously shaped up…" muttered Sango. "But I do have reasons not to trust her but you won't hear me out!"

"Fine, whatever," snapped Yoshiko, throwing her hands up in the air again and turning around. "Fine, tell me! What did Kimiko ever do to call for you trying to kill her?"

There was a long pause. Yoshiko started turning around to look at them over her shoulder. She crossed her arms and still Sango didn't speak up. Miroku and Sesshomaru exchanged a glance. Finally Yoshiko sighed in frustration.

"Fine, _don't_ tell me!" she cried. "See what I care!"

She walked into the hut and saw Rin putting some ice on Kimiko's ankle. She felt a rush of gratitude for the girl, knowing that she wouldn't complain and would put up with almost anything. Yoshiko sat down behind Rin and smiled at her. Then she quickly frowned as Sango stormed in, quickly followed by Sesshomaru and Miroku. Yoshiko started to get to her feet, ready to fight with her bare hands if she had to.

"If you want to know, then listen!" shouted Sango. "You remember Myoga saying that Sukiyama's village was burned down?"

"Yeah… so?" sighed Yoshiko, sitting back down.

"Well, when we first met Utako I heard a rumor at the village about a village that had been burned down," continued Sango, a little surprised that Yoshiko was listening. "There were stories from children that were now grown up of a women with obvious demon blood who had waist long hair. A few days later they sighted the women again and could get a good look. She had blue hair, wore the garb of a demon slayer with purple armor and had that exact weapon!"

"Why would Kimiko want to burn down Sukiyama's village?" asked Miroku as Kimiko blinked up at her half sister.

"Well, it is where the shrine of the Water Stones are, isn't it?" said Sango, standing up tall. "And Kimiko is part water demon. Don't you think that a water demon would feel that they deserved to be in charge of the Water Stones?"

Yoshiko sighed and everybody turned to look at her.

"Yes, well, that's a nice theory," she said, closing her eyes. "But Kimiko didn't burn down the village of the Water Shrine. The Tiger demons did. Because that's where the demon that was killing tiger demons was rumored to be. Besides, there were only two survivors of that village burn down."

"But what about the rumor about the women?" asked Sango desperately.

She sighed again, dreading what she would have to say. Yoshiko opened up her eyes and looked at Sango sadly.

"That wasn't Kimiko either. Besides, that was a different village than the one the Water Shrine resided in," she said, looking away. "Its far too recent and… it was near to the village I use to live in. I'm the one that burned that one down. I'm not proud of it but I did it. There were survivors because I tried to warn the villagers. It was infested with demons and it was the only way I could think of killing them all. But a lot of the villagers didn't believe me and they… they…"

She stopped feeling on the verge of tears. Little arms wrapped themselves around her neck and she looked to see Rin hugging her. It made her feel good that the little girl didn't turn away in disgust and think her repulsive. She looked up at Sango shakily and gave a faint smile. The demon slayer looked down at her in horror, shaking uncontrollably. Then she turned to Kimiko and blinked back tears. Kimiko looked from Sango to Yoshiko thoroughly confused. The men were staying out of it completely. They had no idea what to do in this sort of situation. Fighting made more sense to them.

"I – I – I'm so sorry!" cried Sango, turning around and running out of the hut.

"Sango!" called Yoshiko, getting up and following her out.

As soon as she exited the hut it started pouring down rain. She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at InuYasha. He opened his mouth (probably to say "come inside and leave her be") but she gave a sad smile and ran off in the direction Sango had disappeared in. She wasn't too far off, leaning against the hut that Raoul had half finished and crying, though you could hardly tell because of the rain. Yoshiko pushed a bit of wet hair out of her face.

"Its kind of wet, isn't it?" she said, looking up at the sky.

"God, I feel stupid…" said Sango, hugging her legs. "You and InuYasha must think I'm so prejudiced now and – "

"It's not me and InuYasha you should be worried about," said Yoshiko grimly. "Its Kimiko. She's the one you almost killed… twice…"

Sango gave a hollow laugh.

"And I'm sure she'll forgive you," said Yoshiko. "Because you gave pretty good reasons as to why you should be able to kill her… Just you didn't do your research too well. And if she doesn't then I'll make her!"

Sango laughed again but this time it sounded a little more realistic. She looked up at Yoshiko.

"You still like me, then?" she said. "After what I did and said?"

"Of course!" cried Yoshiko. "God, its me that should think you wouldn't like me after what I did and said."

"You burned down a village to kill a few demons," said Sango, shrugging. "The villagers were stupid enough not to believe you. Its happened in my career before."

"Oh?" said Yoshiko, raising an eyebrow.

Just then another person walked through the trees to them, wearing an umbrella hat and staying considerably dryer than Sango and Yoshiko. Miroku smiled at them and Yoshiko started to walk away. But she quickly hid behind a tree feeling as if she had a right to snoop for a little while.

"You were planning on coming back, right?" said Miroku, walking up to Sango. She merely looked away. "Because we would all miss you. Kimiko has said she's willing to forgive you partly as long as you don't try and kill her again."

"Yes… Well, it would be difficult now considering what you all must think of me," muttered Sango. Miroku knelt down.

"Sango, I could care less because I know the women you truly are," he said, smiling. "You can't be perfect so I forgive you as easily as that as long as you are willing to forgive yourself."

"Oh Miroku," said Sango, smiling at him. Then she burst out crying again and wrapped her arms around his neck. Miroku hugged her back but ever so slowly his hand moved downward until…

"YOU PERVERT!" filled the forest along with a loud slap and somebody crying out in pain. Sango stomped past Yoshiko who glanced back to see Miroku sprawled out in the mud. She giggled and followed after. They heard the monk scrambling after them but didn't stop for him. Once back at the hut, InuYasha handed out towels looking obviously annoyed. Yoshiko leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"You're just jealous because Sueko isn't here and you can't get all lovey dovey with her," she hissed.

"Wh-what?" cried InuYasha, moving away, his cheeks turning pink.

Yoshiko started laughing but it almost instantly turned into a cough. Sesshomaru started striding to her side but she waved him off saying she needed some sleep. But long after everybody else had fallen asleep she lay awake wishing that her headache would just go away. And the ringing in her ears was starting to get annoying. Sighing, she rolled over and attempted to fall asleep.

* * *

Kimiko's demon blood became even more obvious the next day when she was walking around on her broken ankle with nothing more than a stiff bandage. Even InuYasha remarked that it would have taken him at least another day to be able to walk around as easily as she was. But just as things were seeming to settle down between Sango and her half sister… Well, Miroku thought he would be a gentleman and help out a wounded lady. This of course ensued into some jealousy from Sango. She yelled at the monk to get away from Kimiko but the quarter demon calmly replied that if she wanted to date Miroku she could care less. When Sango didn't say anything Kimiko continued by saying: "You obviously don't want to date him, sister, so you should care who he likes." 

Sango stood dumbstruck and turned on Yoshiko who walked out of the hut without a word. She glanced back to see InuYasha sweating as Sango glared him down. Sesshomaru, too, exited the hut after Yoshiko. She sighed and noticed that it was still drizzling but would more than likely clear up by tonight. Which was good because the festival was tonight. Miroku and Kimiko stood a little ways off and Yoshiko stood there watched. An entire minute passed without any action. She was just about to give up when Kimiko sighed, crouched down, picked up a rock and smashed it on top of Miroku's head. He fell over backwards with a dazed look on his face. Kimiko hobbled over to Yoshiko.

"He is tactless, isn't he?" she said, smiling. "One minute he's wooing my sister and the next he's all over me."

Kimiko sighed. Miroku started to get up, laughing shakily and rubbing his head.

"He just doesn't have the capability to know when to talk a women and when it's okay to touch them," said Yoshiko, shrugging. "I'm taking a break from their romantic situation as, according to InuYasha, Sueko and Sango, I can hardly take care of my own."

She felt Sesshomaru staring at her and felt a bit foolish talking about her romantic situation (which included Sesshomaru) right in front of him without out right saying it was with him. And if she had mentioned names it would mean she would have to admit that she liked him… to his face and he would probably want to start a permanent relationship that she just couldn't handle right this instant. But if he was smart he would know that she was talking about them and then what? Luckily, as it was around noon, some of the village girls saying that they were supposed to dress her up for the festival. So waving good-bye, Yoshiko allowed herself to be dragged off.

Around sunset the decorations were all set up and the guests and villagers were ushered toward the large tables that had been set up. Yoshiko was told to stay in her little hut until she was announced. But she couldn't help but peer out. There was a large pit in the center of the curved tables. She spotted her friends on the sides of the tables nearest a raised dais where she more than likely sat. Her sword leaned against a large throne like chair. She also figured she would be the one to start the fire. Just a little something to "prove" she was a priestess. More likely to make it seem as if she were a priestess. It would have just been better if Sueko had been here. She was more of a priestess than Yoshiko was.

Thinking of Sueko made Yoshiko realize that the girl had been gone longer than three days. But now that InuYasha was seated at the table she couldn't ask him to go and get her. She wondered if perhaps Sueko was sitting with Kaede lonesome and bored, wondering when they would come and get her. Yoshiko shook her head to rid herself of the thought. She thought and thought but couldn't think of any way to tell Sueko where they were. Then, just as she was giving up hope, Kirara walked in to the hut as if reading her thoughts. At first Yoshiko just tried to shoo the two-tail away. But then it hit her and she knelt down, grinning at Kirara. The little cat just cocked its head, mewing.

"Hey, Kirara, you miss Sueko don't you?" started Yoshiko. The cat jut meowed again. "So do you think you could go to the well and see if you can find her there? And if she's not perhaps you could stay a couple of days and keep an eye our for her. I'm sure Kaede would love to take care of you!"

Kirara blinked a couple of times, meowed again in a happy way and walked out of the hut. Yoshiko looked out of the flap to see the cat change in a flash of fire into a large saber tooth lion type demon and fly off. Just then Ringo rushed over and, without a word, grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the festivities. Then when they got closer he pushed her toward the dais. She stumbled and looked around. Then she smiled and walked up the steps, took up her sword and pointed it toward the fire pit. The wood instantly burst into flames and burned nicely. The villages cheered and her friends clapped politely. Kimiko blinked in surprise.

Just then food was carried out and served. Yoshiko sat patiently in her chair knowing that she would be the last to be served. Finally a few men came up, each carrying a large plate of food. They set them on small tables next to her chair and didn't leave. She blinked at them and started toward her food slowly. When they didn't stop her she ate a little bit of this and little bit of that. But her headache had come again and she didn't feel that hungry. She heard some voices and looked around but nobody was talking to her. It came again. And again. Finally she looked up and said:

"What?"

"I didn't say anything, priestess," said one of the men, bowing. "Did you need something?"

"Uh… no…" sighed Yoshiko, putting her finger in her ear to try and stop the ringing. It didn't help.

The entertainment came in and the food taken away. She watched it detachedly, with her elbow on the arm rest and leaning her head on her hand. Her head ache was starting to become unbearable and all the sounds around her seemed to echo. Things would blur and seem to be underwater. Then she would blink and they would be normal again. At one point she moaned and leaned back in her chair, sliding down a few inches. The voice was getting louder and louder and now she could make out that it was calling her name. It was so familiar but with her headache she just couldn't figure it out.

"Don't you find all this just annoying?" said the voice. She moaned and rubbed her head. "Wouldn't it just be nice to grab up your sword and be rid of this foolishness?"

Yoshiko glanced at her sword and then shook her head. The men near her were so intent on the dancing women that they hardly noticed. Her eye lids were starting to become heavy and she was sure she would fall asleep at any minute.

"Don't try and fool yourself!" snapped the voice. "Your part demon and should start acting like it."

She slapped her hands over her ears.

"Go away…" she muttered fiercely. "Go away!"

"Tora?"

She jumped and looked behind the chair to see Sesshomaru staring down at her. Thankfully the ringing stopped in her ears and she no longer felt angry at her surroundings but scared. Scared at the fact that she felt that a moment longer and she might have gone on a killing spree. And in her other state she would have enjoyed every moment of it. Like she would have in killing that man with the bow. What was wrong with her? She started shaking.

"You're not well," said Sesshomaru. "You should get some rest."

"I'm fine…" murmured Yoshiko. "I probably got a cold from being out in the rain. I'll be fine."

"You were acting like this before the rain," said Sesshomaru, grabbing her arm and helping her up. "It is not a cold."

"Will you leave me alone?" cried Yoshiko, pulling out of his grip. "You sound like my step-mother: 'Oh, you got your nose wet! Let me take care of you!' I can take care of myself."

"But you're not yourself," said Sesshomaru patiently, reaching out for her arm again. "So I say you should rest."

"You're just a demon!" snapped Yoshiko. "What would you know of this sort of stuff? Now leave me alone!"

With that she started down the steps. But as suddenly as it had left, her headache returned twice as powerful as before. It was so horrible she couldn't see clearly except for little white stars until suddenly she lost all consciousness.

* * *

Today was Thursday. A very annoying day in Sueko's opinion because you wanted it to be Friday and it was so close to Friday yet it was still Thursday and you'd have to wait a whole other day for it to be Friday. But there was still school on Saturday most of the time so Sueko didn't get why she preferred Friday… maybe because it was the last full day of school left. 

Sueko was trying to finish up her science homework, but it was rather difficult when Akio and Tamika kept talking. She still didn't quite get what Akio was doing at her house… He just showed up and said Tamika had invited him. At least he didn't bring his little sister Hikari, because there was barely enough room in the kotatsu as it was… it was only made for a few people, not _five_.

"So, did _anyone_ watch last night's episode of _Gundam Seed_?" asked Akio casually. He hadn't even opened his textbook yet. At least Tamika had opened hers and had started out doing her homework.

"Um… I don't watch that…" said Sueko boredly.

"No?" said Akio disappointingly.

"I missed it," said Tamika, sounding like she didn't like the show either.

"I can't stand that show," muttered Keitaro from behind the book he was reading—he had already finished his homework. "There's no way—"

"Okay, nerd boy, no one wants to hear it," said Akio. "The whole point in anime is to do fantastic things that wouldn't happen in real life. Can't you just face the facts and move on?"

"Well I'm the only one paying attention to the facts, since it seems no one else in the world _is_…" muttered Keitaro moodily.

"That excuse so does not fly with _Cowboy Bebop_ or _Full Metal Alchemist_," said Akio, shaking his head. "People can't live on Mars and do magic by making alchemy circles…"

"What's alchemy?" asked Toboe suddenly, looking up from his drawing. Apparently he really liked to draw so Sueko handed him some pencils and paper and let him do whatever. She also had made him take his clothes off, hoping some warmer clothes would make his cold go away quicker. So he was wearing some old blue flannel pajama pants that were still a bit too long in the legs for him and some old _Naruto_ shirt Sueko had owned since a little kid and never threw out… It was back when she was in this huge ninja phase and it only lasted a year… It was a black tee shirt with the three main characters on it: Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. Ironically, the main characters from the popular anime and manga series were the same age as Toboe. Not that Sueko remembered a whole lot about the show since it'd been forever since she actually watched it… When was it, third grade?

Keitaro smiled, looking more than happy to explain to Toboe what alchemy was. The two seemed to like each other a lot, but that might have just been because Keitaro was the only one who bothered to answer Toboe's annoying questions about modern day, since he enjoyed sharing his knowledge so much. "Well, the real definition of alchemy is a medieval chemical philosophy in which they made claims about its asserted aims the transmutation of base metals like gold, the discover of the panacea, and the preparation of the elixir of longevity…"

"Uh…" moaned Toboe, looking confused and overwhelmed.

"But on _Full Metal Alchemist_ they basically just use alchemy by drawing a circle on the ground and 'transmuting' things by, for example, using water to make bread," said Keitaro.

"That doesn't sound like very tasty bread," commented Toboe.

"However, the really stupid thing about the show," said Keitaro, starting to rant, "is that Edward Elric doesn't _need_ a stupid transmutation circle because _he's_ the main character and _he's_ special that way…"

"It's okay, Keitaro," said Akio, patting Keitaro on the head. Keitaro just glared.

"Oh, I give up already," moaned Sueko, putting her head on the table in defeat. She just couldn't concentrate with all the talking!

"I just finished!" said Tamika happily, closing her textbook—not that Sueko saw her do much work so she didn't get how she was done… "Study break, study break!"

Sueko moaned.

"I haven't even started my math assignment yet," said Akio, looking at his blank worksheet.

"I wonder why…" hissed Keitaro, giving Akio a death glare.

"Ha! All done!" said Toboe suddenly, putting his piece of paper and pencil down on the desk and then laying down and closing his eyes with his hands behind his head, like drawing had really tired him out or something.

"Huh? Oh, let me see!" said Tamika excitedly, snatching the picture to look at it. Everyone turned to her to see her reaction because they couldn't actually see the picture themselves. At first she blinked a few times. Then her eyes widened a bit and she went, "Oh…"

"It can't be that horrible, God," snapped Keitaro impatiently, snatching the drawing and looking at it himself. He had the same reaction, except went, "Wow…"

"What!" snapped Sueko, wanting to know what it was. But Akio took it before she could glance at it and took forever to inspect it.

After a few minutes he looked up from the paper as if just noticing Sueko's death glare. "Oh," he said with his eyebrows raised, surprised. "Would you like to look at it?"

"Yes, thank-you-very-much!" snapped Sueko, snatching the paper away and looking at it. After looking at if for a few moments she looked down at Toboe and said, "Hey, how long have you been drawing this for?"

"Wha…" said Toboe, opening one eye. "Oh, since you all started studying." Then he went back to his "nap."

"But… but…" said Sueko, looking back at the paper. "That's only been thirty minutes… And I could spend all day drawing and I couldn't draw anime _that_ good…"

"It's just a doodle…" muttered Toboe sleepily.

"It's exactly how they draw it in the manga," commented Keitaro, going back to his book. "Well, I've only read the first _Chrno Crusade_ manga and Chrno only transformed to his full demonic form once in it… Did I mention that the likely hood of a bunch of nuns getting together to destroy a bunch of demons is very slim, and the fact that Rosette and Chrno are partnered together despite the fact Chrno is a demon—"

"Buddy," said Akio suddenly. "No one cares."

"Humph…"

"How did you learn to draw this good?" snapped Sueko, poking Toboe's face annoyingly.

Toboe blinked exasperatingly a few times. "From you, duh… I'm tired, stop bugging me…"

"But…" muttered Sueko, looking back at the picture. Wow, did she really draw that good in the future? If so, could the future happen already so she could have amazing drawing skills? Please? That'd be nice…

"So, what about that study break?" said Tamika, standing up and stretching her arms.

"Well, first you have to actually _study_…" muttered Keitaro darkly.

"And I did!" said Tamika proudly, showing off her finished history essay. "I already told you, I only had a paragraph to write and I'd be done. So I still managed to finish it even with Akio babbling on and on…"

"I don't babble," said Akio, clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry, Akio, but I don't like _Trigun_ as much as you do, okay?" said Tamika sweetly. Then she leaned down so her face was right in front of Akio's and then she snarled, "SO SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT VASH FOR TWO FREAKIN' SECONDS!"

Keitaro coughed, as though he'd _like_ to mention a certain anime about wolves going to paradise but thought best not to. Sueko couldn't help but giggle a little.

"So…" said Tamika, standing up again and blinking innocently. "Study break!"

"Fine…" sighed Keitaro. "Though _only_ for ten minutes, and only if you shut up about it afterwards… you hear?"

"Okay!" said Tamika. "Let's go already!"

"Huh?" mumbled Toboe sleepily.

"Hey!" snapped Sueko, who was being pulled up by Tamika. She also had grabbed Keitaro by the arm and was attempting to drag the two out of the room but Keitaro grabbed the doorway at the last second so Tamika wasn't going anywhere.

"Let… go…" cried Tamika, pulling Keitaro with all her might.

"You let… go!" snapped Keitaro.

"And maybe you can let go of me too while you're at it," said Sueko, trying to get her wrist out of Tamika's death grip.

"Oh, are we going to venture outside?" said Akio curiously, who was still innocently sitting at the kotatsu with a napping Toboe across from him. "What fun! I'm up for it!"

"No… Wait, Akio…" started Keitaro, but Akio was helping Tamika pull the two out of the house. And Akio somehow managed to grab Toboe as well, who was looking just as annoyed and exasperated as Sueko and Keitaro.

"Hey, it's not raining anymore!" said Akio once outside with everyone.

"I like the rain…" sighed Tamika. "Oh well… I used to jump in the mud puddles when I was a kid… that was fun…"

"Don't even think about it," muttered Keitaro, wrenching his arm out of Tamika's grip. Then, noticing that Sueko was still struggling, pried Tamika's fingers off her wrist.

"Yay…" said Sueko, feeling her wrist. "I think I was starting to lose circulation."

"Hey, some fresh air will do the two of you some good," said Tamika seriously.

"Sheesh… doesn't all these stairs annoy the hell out of you?" said Akio as the group started heading towards the sidewalk several feet away.

"Only if I'm wearing really crappy shoes," said Sueko.

"So, anyone want to go to someplace in particular?" asked Tamika.

"Yes…" said Keitaro. "How about back inside?"

"How about we just go along with it?" said Sueko sweetly. Then she muttered, "It's not like we have much of a choice…"

"It's not like there's a whole lot of stuff to do around this part of town…" commented Akio once they finally reached the sidewalk.

"Oh!" cried Tamika, pointing to something in the distance. "A pet shop!"

"Um… okay… so?" said Keitaro.

"Let's go inside!" said Tamika, rushing over to the small store. With a sigh everyone else followed with Akio shaking his head and Toboe looking rather curious.

It looked like an ordinary pet shop to Sueko. Tamika was looking at all the animals cheerfully as Keitaro kept an eye on her and Akio looked very amused by the whole situation. You could tell that all the different smells and odors were bugging Toboe a bit but he still looked interested at all the weird stuff. Sueko decided to follow him around instead of Tamika and the others.

"Hey, what do you think InuYasha's reaction would be if I gave him a dog collar?" said Sueko jokingly, holding up one.

"I don't know…" said Toboe, giving the collar an odd look. What's it for?"

"You put it on your pet dog or cat so if they run away they can be found easier," said Sueko, putting it back on the little hook on the shelf. She forgot how much he wouldn't get about her world. At least InuYasha was a bit more educated about it. _Thank God for Kagome… I suck at this job…_

"Hey!" said Sueko, suddenly getting an idea. "I should find something for Kirara…"

"Sango's cat?" asked Toboe.

"Yeah…" said Sueko distractedly, looking at all the cat things. There was so much stuff she wasn't sure what to get… and she only had five dollars in her pocket so she couldn't spend a whole lot…(4)

"Hmm… Would Sango get annoyed if I got Kirara mouse filled catnip?" wondered Sueko out loud. "Hey, I wonder if Yoshiko would be attracted to it… That'd be kind of funny…"

"Cat litter?" said Toboe. "What, is it a litter of cat's in a bag?"

"Um…" said Sueko, trying not to laugh. "No, it's for your cat's… like… poop…"

"And it can't go outside _why_?" asked Toboe.

Sueko didn't answer; she heard a lot of bickering the next isle over and, recognizing Tamika and Keitaro's voices, went over to investigate.

"How about _not_," said Keitaro, rolling his eyes.

"But it's so cute looking!" said Tamika, looking at the clear box where some small mice where rolling on top of each other. She was looking at a tan one doing back flips by climbing up on a round plastic toy and jumping backwards.

"So? Like we have time to take care of one," said Keitaro exasperatedly.

"We do too!" cried Tamika tearfully, turning back to Keitaro with her hands on her hips. "All you'd have to do is feed it, clean it's cage and play with it! Oh, and don't forget to wash your hands afterwards!"

"I don't want to take care of a lousy mouse," snapped Keitaro. "And you'll forget to take care of it so I'd have to!"

"Hey, I have an idea!" said Sueko, walking over to stand between the two. "How about we forget about the mouse and go somewhere else! After I buy Kirara's cat nip…"

"Humph!" muttered Tamika. Though Keitaro flashed her a thankful smile as she went back to grab the mouse with catnip in it.

"So…" said Keitaro once they were outside. "Can we go back to _studying_ now?"

"But I'm all done!" said Tamika.

"I gave up with mine…" sighed Sueko.

"Uh… I was planning on _not_ doing mine…" said Akio slyly. "I got bored with the assignment anyways.

"'Glad I don't have to go to school…" mumbled Toboe.

Keitaro sighed. "We never do get much done with these study sessions, do we?"

"Hey! I was doing really well with my English homework the other day!" said Sueko. "And… okay, yesterday my mind was on other things… but I still got most of my math assignment done. Oh, and not doing so good with science… but Akio and Tamika wouldn't shut up!"

"You could have joined in the conversation any time you wanted…" mumbled Akio.

"Okay… _How_ would that help me get the homework done?" cried Sueko exasperatedly. Akio just shrugged.

"You know what…" said Tamika thoughtfully. "Our birthday is the day after tomorrow and we have no clue what we're going to do for it…"

"That's your own fault," muttered Keitaro. "You're the one who always plans them."

"That's because if you planed them we'd do something boring, like go to the museum or see some silly Sci-Fi movie!"

"Nothing wrong with Sci-Fi once and a while…"

"I like museums," said Sueko thoughtfully.

"But I don't want to repeat what we've already done…" sighed Tamika. "But after several years you run out of things…"

"Picking a theme always helps," suggested Akio.

"No _Wolf's Rain_!" snapped Keitaro.

"Then no _Star Wars_!" Tamika snapped back.

Akio rolled his eyes. "Oh, grow up you two. Is there a moment when you _don't_ bicker?"

"Why not just all anime-themed?" suggested Toboe, surprising everyone. "It's vague enough that you wouldn't have probably done it before… That works for a themed party, right?"

"Everyone could dress up as their favorite anime character!" cried Tamika. "It'd be great!"

"Three guesses as to whom you'd dress up as…" muttered Keitaro, rolling his eyes.

"Sounds like a great idea," nodded Akio.

"I'm up for it," said Sueko while wondering where on earth she'd find a costume in time.

"Oh, you're so great!" cried Tamika, hugging Toboe and rubbing his head playfully with her fist. But then she started petting one of his ears instead.

"Well, he's already dressed up, now isn't he," said Akio, sounding amused. But then Sueko realized that she had never told Akio about Feudal Japan and was wondering why he wasn't freaking out by a kid with dog-ears…

"Oh, it's all right," said Keitaro, seeing Sueko's shocked face. "Tamika told Akio about the well and crap while you were gone…"

"Oh…" Sueko sighed in relief. Then…

"I can't believe you told him without my permission!" screamed Sueko, chasing Tamika around to…oh, who knows what? Now she was kind of wishing for the sit thing…

* * *

"Ack! I'm late, I'm LATE!" cried Sueko, rushing around the house as she frantically tried to find her Sailor Moon costume. Toboe looked curious, her mom looked amused. 

"No need to panic, sweetie," said her mom. "I'm sure we just haven't had the chance to unpack it yet… Are you sure it even fits?"

"Where would the box be, then?" asked Sueko, rushing back over to her mother.

"I don't know… maybe you could get your friend's little brother to help you find it in the extra storage room," said her mom with a smile.

Sueko had told everyone that Toboe was InuYasha's little brother… That way there wouldn't be any weird questions about how he looked so familiar. And it was pretty believable; they both were dog demons. What would be impossible to explain was the truth, so Sueko didn't even try. She couldn't even begin to figure out what she would tell everyone back in the Warring States era… She had the feeling she would not be able to lie her way out of it.

But the important thing to worry about was where her costume was. Sueko was already late for the party (well, would be in ten minutes) and she hadn't even gotten on the train there yet. At least she had her presents wrapped and ready to go.

"So, what's this sailor suit thing look like?" asked Toboe in the extra storage room, going through the many cardboard boxes in the room with Sueko.

"Sailor _Moon_," said Sueko irritably. "And it's like a weird version of my school uniform. Except not green, blue."

"Um…"

"What do you expect? It's anime! Ah… I'm going to be _so_ late!" moaned Sueko.

"At least this place's transpiration is a lot quicker than where I come from," said Toboe.

"Oh, found it!" cried Sueko, lifting it up. "What's it doing in the Christmas ordainments? And where the hell's the wig…"

"I think I found it…" said Toboe, lifting up a wad of faux blond hair.

"Yup!" said Sueko, taking it. "Where's the boots? Oh, I don't have time to look… I'll improvise… Be right back!"

Five minutes later Sueko emerged from the bedroom with her _Sailor Moon_ costume, looking almost exactly like Usagi thanks to the blonde wig that went with. Okay, so her pink snow boots didn't go too well… they weren't knee length or red. But it was good enough. (5)

"Moon Prism Power Make-up!" cried Sueko as she came out of the bedroom door.

"Huh…" said Toboe.

"How do I look?" asked Sueko sweetly.

"Okay… I guess…" said Toboe, scratching his head.

"Oh, you're a guy! Who cares about your opinion!" muttered Sueko, being reminded of InuYasha as she walked away.

"I don't get it…" muttered Toboe.

"Don't forget your gifts, Sueko!" called her mother.

* * *

Before she could open the front door it opened for her, but found Tamika's appearance a bit more surprising than having the door suddenly open. She was wearing a light purple suit, a pink cloak, and it looked like she had died her long dark hair purple… 

"Hi, Sailor Moon!" said Tamika cheerfully.

"Hi…Tamika?" said Sueko.

Tamika sighed. "I didn't have a wig so I died my hair… but it wouldn't die pink…"

"Sorry…" said Sueko.

"Plus it won't wash out in the shower like it's supposed to! I think I got the permanent kind! I can't go to school with purple hair!" cried Tamika in dismay.

"Oh, I think it's hot," said Akio slyly, coming over to the doorway. He was wearing a blue suit and caring a giant cardboard cross. And Sueko had no clue who he was trying to impersonate either.

"Nicholas D. Wolfwood on the case!" said Akio importantly. (6)

"Good for him…" muttered Sueko. "So who are you, Tamika?"

"You don't know?" cried Tamika. "How could you not know!"

"Hmm…" Sueko said, trying to think. "Maybe it's from _Wolf's Rain_ since you like it so much…"

"You're getting warmer…" said Akio.

"…And the only girls I know the names of from that show is… Cheza?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" said Akio.

"Get a life…" muttered Keitaro, walking over to hit Akio on the head.

"Oh, I know who you are!" cried Sueko. "Okay, so his name was…"

"I thought you said you knew who I was," said Keitaro. He was wearing a black shirt and pants under a cool looking red coat that went down to his knees. He was also wearing a blond wig, which was so long it was put in a braid.

"I'm thinking…" said Sueko. "Um… oh yeah! Edward Elric from _Full Metal Alchemist_!"

"Ding, ding, ding!" said Akio again.

"Shut up!" cried Tamika and Keitaro, whacking him on the head at the same time.

"Aren't you a little too tall to be Ed?" asked Sueko.

"Oh, shut up…" muttered Keitaro, crossing his arms. (7)

Just then someone looking like an anime character Sueko couldn't quite recall came walking over and, with his hands in his pockets, said, "Hey, shouldn't you four move _away_ from the doorway?"

"Good idea, dad," said Keitaro, rolling his eyes as they moved into the living room.

"Ah… I remember during Halloween me and Haruka would dress up as Spike and Faye together…" sighed their dad dreamily. He was wearing a suit almost like Akio's but different too, and his hair was unusually messy, like he was trying to make up for the fact that he didn't own the wig that went with. (8)

"So…" said Tamika, sitting down on the floor. "What should we do first?"

"I don't know… isn't it your party?" asked Sueko.

"Oh yeah… I'm seventeen today, how weird…" muttered Tamika. "Hey, you haven't even _started_ watching my birthday present, have you?"

"Um…"

"I knew it… you haven't!"

"Well, a lot of things have been happening lately, it's hard to keep up!" _Like Toboe showing up…_ "Can I wait till this weekend to watch _Wolf's Rain _without you killing me?" asked Sueko, blinking innocently back.

"Sure…" muttered Tamika, trying to look like she was still mad but failing greatly at it.

"I never got what was so fascinating about it…" muttered Akio, waving his hand casually.

"That's because all you can appreciate are guns, spaceships, hot girls and giant robots!" cried Tamika.

"Oh yeah… Ha…" said Akio.

"Doesn't _Wolf's Rain_ have guns?" asked Keitaro. "And the giant robots that shoot guns at them? And space-ship-looking aircraft?"

"The _humans_ do…" said Tamika. "Stupid nobles! Aww, Toboe dying was so sad…" (9)

"Ack! Wait!" cried Sueko.

"Let's see…" said Tamika thoughtfully. "If I'm remembering right Quent shot him… And then he like took forever to die and everyone cried… I cried…"

"I knew _that_…" muttered Keitaro.

"Oh…" said Sueko, sitting down on the couch. She couldn't help thinking of what she'd have to tell everyone else back in Feudal Japan—and seeing how she had told them she'd be gone for a week that'd be coming up very soon. It's not like she'd want to tell the whole depressing story about Toboe's past, though it was the only evidence she had to prove he wasn't some evil demon trying to kill them all—though he was too cute looking to be evil… But it wasn't like she could force him to tell it all. The first time was probably hard enough for the kid…

And suddenly Sueko felt someone's hand on hers, and the next second her face was bright red as she stared at Keitaro's face, whose face was just as bright of color. Her heart was racing and she couldn't help wondering what was going to happen next…

"Okay, I need to talk with you… NOW!" cried Tamika, pulling on Sueko's arm.

"Break it up, you…" muttered Akio, pulling on Keitaro's arm.

"What!" cried an alarmed Keitaro and Sueko.

Except they were still holding onto each other's hands so Keitaro and Sueko were becoming stretched… They seemed to forget that they could simply just let go of each other's hand and be free… Their hands slipped and Tamika whisked Sueko away to her room while Akio dragged Keitaro along to his room.

* * *

"You like Sueko, don't you?" accused Akio, pointing a finger at Keitaro's chest. 

"I—I—I—" stuttered Keitaro. "Aren't you a priest? Shouldn't a priest mind his own damn business?"

"Aye, but I am no ordinary priest!" exclaimed Akio, holding up his grey giant cross threateningly.

"Cardboard is really not that scary," said Keitaro, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, just pretend it's an extremely threatening gun and you're going to DIE!" cried Akio.

"I think we're getting off subject…" muttered Keitaro. Then his eye's widened and he added hastily, "But we can keep it off subject!"

"Too late, bud," said Akio, shaking his head. Then he said in a singsong voice, "You know you _love_ her! You want to _hold_ her! You want to _kiss_ her!" (10)

"Argh, shut up!" muttered Keitaro, turning pink.

"So…" said Akio slyly, "When are you gonna make 'the move'?"

"Oh God… Akio, this is exactly why I don't want you in my personal life!"

"Okay, okay…" said Akio, grinning. "I think you'd make a cute couple though."

"Thanks for the support," said Keitaro dryly.

"Are you going to tell her?" asked Akio.

"Am I supposed to!"

"I don't know… Girls are pretty tricky… They usually see through all our motives and always know when we are in love with them… Usually… Of course, if this was Tamika she might take a little while…"

"I'm not in love with my sister!" cried Keitaro.

"Did I ever say I was?" asked Akio, blinking.

"Oh my God…" muttered Keitaro, putting a hand to his face.

* * *

"I can't believe you haven't told him yet!" roared Tamika. 

"I know, I know!" wailed Sueko. "But I've had a lot on my plate lately…"

"So? All those times you've been studying with him and you couldn't mention something?" cried Tamika.

"But you were there!" cried Sueko. "It's not like you ever _helped_ me anyways!"

Tamika sighed. "You have to tell him eventually though…"

"I know…" sighed Sueko. "It's kind of hard to just randomly say 'I'm not single!' He wouldn't know what I'm talking about and then I'd have to explain it more…"

"I'd tell you to do what I do," said Tamika thoughtfully, "except I don't want my brother to have a black eye afterwards…"

"And I don't normally punch people so I'm not sure I'd leave a black eye…" said Sueko just as thoughtfully, remembering that one day in PE where Tamika beat someone up with a dodge ball because… well, she couldn't recall why, exactly...

"Just try and get it done before you leave…" said Tamika.

"Before the party's over!" cried Sueko.

"That'd be better…" said Tamika thoughtfully.

"But… you can't do that to a guy on their birthday!" cried Sueko.

"Oh, you're right… You better think of something better than!" said Tamika. Then she walked out of the room saying, "Present time!"

"Thanks for the advice…" muttered Sueko wearily, walking out as well.

Akio and Keitaro were in the living room when Sueko entered. Before she even had the chance to wonder about it Tamika exclaimed, "Dad went in the kitchen!" She was sitting in the middle of the living room floor again, despite the fact there was plenty of seating.

"Presents, presents, presents!" chanted Tamika from the floor.

"You're worse than Hikari during Christmas, and she's way younger than you!" cried Akio.

"I think since _I'm _older, and more mature, and more responsible… not to mention smarter…" said Keitaro innocently, twiddling his thumbs and looking up innocently, "that I should get to open the presents first…"

"With that attitude I don't think you should be allowed any…" muttered Akio.

"Jan-Ken-Pon?" suggested Sueko. (11)

So they went along with that idea; Tamika won two out of three, and Keitaro asked to make it three out of five but Akio dropped that idea. Then he handed Tamika his present to her with a clever grin on his face.

"Hmm…" said Tamika, peering into the tissue-paper-filled bag. "Let's see… it looks thin… plastic… and shiny…"

"Pull it out!"

"Oh yeah!" It turned out to be a CD. A M2M CD, to be exact.

"Never heard of them…" said Tamika, nodding her head sideways back and forth and staring at the CD.

"They're English…" said Akio.

"I knew that!" said Tamika.

"Here's mine…" said Sueko, handing it over. "I couldn't think of anything specific so…"

"A fifty dollar coupon to the mall?" said Tamika once she had it unwrapped. "Sweet…"

"My turn!" cried Keitaro, jumping off the couch to sit down on the floor next to his sister. They smiled at each other childishly for a minute, than gave each other the other's present.

"Oh my God!" laughed Tamika. "It's so cute…"

"What is it exactly…" asked Sueko, leaning over to get a better look.

"Kiba, silly!" said Tamika, holding it up. It was a plushy of some white dog. A really weird looking plushy… Then again, whenever they made plushy's out of anime characters they always look weird.

"Okay…" said Sueko, going along with it.

"Wow, a Palm Pilot!" marveled Keitaro. "Not that I know what to do with it… Hey, why's my background _Wolf's Rain_ themed?"

Tamika giggled. "And when you get e-mail's it'll ring the theme song!"

"Which one…" sighed Keitaro.

"Oh, that one they played that was really pretty when Toboe was going on about this dream he had with lunar flowers…" said Tamika, nodding her head back and forth as if she was playing the tune in her head. (12)

"Technically that's not a theme song…" muttered Keitaro.

"Here you go, buddy!" said Akio, walking over and hitting Keitaro on the head with a party bag.

"It'll probably be a CD…" said Keitaro, grabbing the bag and going through the tissue paper. "You're pretty predictable with presents and almost always get Tamika and me the same thing… Ah ha! _Linkin Park_!"

"Oh, an American band I've actually heard of!" cried Sueko. "Not that I can remember any songs they do… or understand what they sing too well…"

"Maybe you should work on your English assignment a bit more," said Keitaro teasingly.

"I'll get right on that…" said Sueko darkly.

"So what'd you get me?" asked Keitaro, leaning over so he could rest his chin on his hand.

"I don't know…" said Sueko, crossing her arms. "Maybe I _won't_ give it to you…"

"Aww…" said Akio, smiling. Thinking he was starting to catch on to the fact that Keitaro liked her, Sueko tossed Keitaro his present rather huffily.

"It's kinda heavy…" commented Keitaro, weighting the box with his hand.

"Open it already!" cried Sueko.

"I don't recall Usagi having this much of a temper," said Akio.

"Last time I checked my name was Sueko…"

"See? Cranky!"

"Hmm…" said Keitaro, ripping the paper off. Then his eyes widened. "An exact replica of the Millennium Falcon, first seen on Episode One, the New Hope!"

"Cool it," muttered Akio, holding his fist in the ready position.

"Neat-o…" muttered Tamika, poking it.

"I was trying to find something different and saw some _Star Wars_ merchandise…" mumbled Sueko, turning a bit pink. "And I kind of thought Harrison Ford was hot so tried to find something Han Solo-ish… I had to ask the store clerk for help because I don't remember the two _Star Wars_ movies I've seen too well but they were kinda helpful… Kept going on about Obi-Wan Kenobi, but whatever…"

"Vroom…" said Tamika, making the space ship fly around Keitaro's head.

"It's not a toy," snapped Keitaro, taking it away from her. "It's a collectible. I could sell it on Ebay for thousands of dollars."

"I'm sure you could…" muttered Tamika, "if you'd ever decided to sell it!"

"Sheesh," said Akio. "You bicker on just like you were brother and sister!"

Tamika and Keitaro just glared at him.

"So…" said Sueko, sitting down on the ground in front of them. "What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know…" said Tamika thoughtfully. "Food?"

"Did dad actually get the cake yet?" asked Keitaro.

"I don't know. Maybe he's making it. He hasn't left the kitchen for a long time," said Tamika.

"You two know me too well," said their Dad sweetly, who had come out of the kitchen with—well, the cake.

"Ack!" cried Sueko, surprised.

So it was after cake and a bit of joking around that the four were left with nothing to do again.

"Any party games planned?" asked Akio.

"Nope…" said Tamika.

"I have an idea!" said Akio.

"Oh no…" moaned Keitaro.

"Spin the bottle!"

"Do we have a bottle?" asked Sueko.

"How about not…" muttered Keitaro.

"Too bad Kiba isn't here…" sighed Tamika.

"I have a beer bottle I'm almost done with," said their dad with a shrug. "Let me finish it off… I'll go get it…"

"No… Dad, NO!" wailed Keitaro. But too late, he already left the room. "Akio, I hate you…" mumbled Keitaro, lying on the floor with his hands covering his face.

"Nothing like good ol' resentment!" said Akio.

"This has got to be the weirdest birthday party I've been to…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"That's what you get for inviting Akio," said Tamika, nodding her head knowingly.

"Got the bottle!" cried their dad, coming out of the kitchen.

"Dad, are you okay?" asked Keitaro worryingly.

"I might have had a bit much…" muttered their dad, giving the bottle a funny look. "Ah… what the heck?" He handed Tamika the bottle and left the room with a funny smile on his face.

"Should I worry?" asked Sueko timidly.

"I want to go first!" cried Tamika, setting the bottle down and spinning it. It pointed to Keitaro.

"Um…"

"No incest allowed!" said Akio fiercely, making Tamika spin it again. Luckily for Sueko it pointed to Akio.

"Hell-oh Kiba!" said Tamika slyly, stretching out her "Hello" into two syllables. She grabbed Akio's face to keep it steady and kissed him right on the lips. Then she quickly stopped and sat back down like nothing had happened at all.

"Um…" said Sueko, a bit taken aback. "Are we going clockwise or counter-clockwise?"

"Since you asked… counter-clockwise!" said Akio. That would have made it Sueko's turn.

With a sigh she spun the bottle, worrying who she'd get. She found it all too ironic that she got Keitaro.

"Okay, game over!" cried Tamika suddenly, standing up.

"What?" asked Akio curiously, standing up as well.

"Hey Keitaro?" asked Tamika sweetly, a look of pure innocence on her face as she put her hands together.

"Erm…"

"Sueko needs to tell you something!" cried Tamika, pushing him and Sueko into the nearest room with a door on it—that just so happened to be a broom closet.

"Oh… my… God…" muttered Sueko, heart pounding.

"Where's the stupid switch…" muttered Keitaro, moving his arm vaguely around in the air. His white-gloved hand made contact with the cord and he pulled it, and light from a single dangling light bulb filled the small space.

"Tamika…" muttered Keitaro, shaking his head. "I'll never get her…"

"Um…" said Sueko timidly, fidgeting with her hands and looking down at her feet.

"You okay?" asked Keitaro, sounding concerned.

She tried to think of what to say but the words just didn't seem to want to come out. But she knew she'd have to say something… but right now really wasn't the time she wanted to say it. But there wasn't exactly a right time for this sort of thing.

"Sueko?" said Keitaro again.

Sueko took a deep breath. "I'm sorry! But it can't work out this way!"

"Um… what?" said Keitaro, sounding confused.

"Look… It was just some really big misunderstanding the other time," Sueko tried to explain. "It wasn't that InuYasha was two-timing me, it was that some demon was tricking us so we'd break up… Not that we were really together…"

"Oh…"

"I really like you Keitaro!" cried Sueko. "But… only as a really good friend."

"That's okay," said Keitaro, laughing a little. "I've heard that dating your sister's best friend never works out."

"Uh…" said Sueko, taken aback a little. But just then the closet door opened and Akio popped his head in.

"Hey, we're having ice cream if you want any," he said. Then he sighed. "Damn, no action…"

"I've got to go…" muttered Sueko, pushing Akio aside as she hurried out.

"Wait, Sueko!" called Keitaro.

"What are you up to?" asked Tamika curiously, watching as Sueko picked up her stuff and headed toward the door.

"Um… I'm sorry. But I've got to go!" cried Sueko, rushing out of the door.

* * *

"_We can trap him by using you as bait!" cried TK._

"_Me? Why do I have to be the one?" snapped Davis._

"_We have to use some kind of bait we could do without!" replied TK frustratingly._

"_Oh, yeah? Well, we could easily do without your hat!" retorted Davis. _(13)

Just then the front door opened and Toboe jumped up in surprise. Maybe he had found the _Digimon_ marathon he found on TV a bit too interesting and forgot about reality…

"I thought you weren't coming home for at least another hour or two!" cried Toboe. "Wait… what time is it?"

Sueko acted as though she didn't hear him, rushing upstairs without so much as a glance.

"Um… wait?" said Toboe, jumping off the couch and following. Then before he reached the staircase he turned back around and glanced at the TV.

"_I'd love to see how this turns out, but I've got to run," said Ken, the evil Digimon Emperor, haughtily. "I have a few chores to take care of, like taking over the digital world."_

"_There's no way we're going to let you use Patamon to help you with your plan!" cried TK._

"_The same goes for Agumon!" agreed Tai._

"_That's really funny. Because I don't remember asking for permission," said the Digimon Emperor with a toothy grin._

"Hmm…" said Toboe. "This all seems vaguely familiar… Oh yeah, Mom upset!"

And he rushed upstairs to find Sueko going through her room and throwing things into a bag. It looked like she was packing. She had taken the blond wig off but was still wearing that Sailor Moon thing. Close up she just looked even more stressed and upset about… something.

Toboe walked up to her a bit timidly. Though she looked pretty preoccupied and still didn't notice him. So then he cleared his throat and tried to think of something to cheer her up, but he couldn't think of much. His mind was still stuck on _Digimon_… Wait…

"You know what?" said Toboe. This caught Sueko's attention finally, and she turned around with a hand on her hip and a wad of socks in the other hand, looking a bit surprised. He blinked a few times, then continued. "In like every episode of _Digimon_ they always have to fight these really… action packed battles and stuff… but in the end it all turns out to be a happy ending because they always learn this life lesson at the end, and… Well, maybe there's a life lesson in what… whatever… and in the end you'll have a happy ending too! But since life isn't as long as an episode of _Digimon_ so it might take a little longer for you to realize it…"

"What do you know?" said Sueko sweetly, "It sounds like pretty much every other TV show out there… Hey, we're going home!"

"What?" said Toboe just as Sueko rushed over to her closet.

"You know… Feudal Japan…" said Sueko, rummaging around until she came out of the closet with a yellow backpack. "Okay, don't mind the fact this belonged to some dead girl that you don't know… I don't have any other bags and I'm pretty sure she's a nice enough gal that she wouldn't mind at all!"

"Um…" said Toboe, taking the backpack.

"I'm going through the well!" said Sueko loudly, as though Toboe was too deaf to understand her. "I'm going whether you want to or not! So I suggest you start packing!"

"Ugh!" cried Toboe, covering his ears. "I'm not deaf!"

"Then start packing!" cried Sueko, shoving some spare clothes in hers.

"But… I don't have anything to pack…" said Toboe.

"Hmm…" said Sueko thoughtfully, wearing an amused expression on her face. "I guess maybe bringing a _few_ manga wouldn't be too bad…"

"Oh… really!"

"Only ten!" cried Sueko as Toboe rushed out of the room. Then she shook her head a bit sadly, shoved a few last minute things into her book bag, and left the room.

She didn't find Toboe in the living room like she thought she would… No, he was in the kitchen looking around for food. And he failed to understand the fact that there would be plenty of food in Feudal Japan and asked if there was any Pocky. Sueko just shook her head and left the room.

"Hmm… I still think Pocky's really neat…" muttered Toboe, poking at the strange square box on the counter before looking through the drawer underneath. But then after a few more minutes of searching he grew bored of it and wandered back into the living room.

"Are you ready yet?" asked Sueko, laughing.

"Sure?" said Toboe, shrugging.

"Great! I can't wait to see Yoshiko! I can't believe I miss her so much!" cried Sueko, rushing out the door. He slowly followed, too busy looking around to walk outside quickly. He still couldn't get used to all the strange buildings in Sueko's world.

"Oh, well, I've missed you so much!" cried Sueko once inside the shrine. "What's wrong with me? I'm sounding like Tamika!"

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Toboe timidly, looking down at the well.

"What do you mean? Of course it'll work!" snapped Sueko. "Wait, what are we talking about?"

"But only you and Dad were ever able to go through the well…" said Toboe. "When it wasn't broken, that is. Though apparently if you have a Shrine Stone you can go through but…"

"Um…" said Sueko, a bit taken aback by the "dad" thing. She shook her head to get rid of the weird thoughts that followed afterwards. "I'm sure you'll be fine…" Then just to make him feel a little better she took his hand and smiled. "And if it doesn't work I can always make it work!"

"Sure…" said Toboe.

"One… two… three… JUMP!"

Going through the well with someone else was just plain weird. Though she'd gone through a few times with InuYasha when she first met him… it was still weird! But once she got through to Feudal Japan and helped Toboe up to the surface she was surprised that no one was there. Well, why would everyone be waiting around the Bone Eater's well for her? Her friends probably had better things to do.

"Mrew…"

"Wow… It's Kirara!" said Toboe, looking down in surprise.

Okay, so maybe a friend of hers was waiting around for Sueko. Just not the friend she had in mind…

Wait, why'd she want to see InuYasha? All that'd lead to would be a bunch of questions about Toboe… and why she was late… Actually, she'd rather argue about being late than meeting a random kid that was their child.

_Eww…_

"Kirara… Digivolve!" cried Toboe. Sueko just stood there blinking at him.

"I like that show…" sighed Toboe. "How else do you make the cat get bigger?"

"Um… I don't think making her Digivolve is helpful," said Sueko.

But just then Kirara actually did transform as though she could tell what they were talking about.

"Try not to do any flying, okay?" said Sueko nervously as she climbed on the large cat.

When Toboe got on Kirara took them to where the others were apparently staying. The large cat looked back at them and gave a sort of meow before taking off… but totally ignoring what Sueko said by flying off. She cried out in surprise and grabbed a hold of the cat's fur as Toboe caught her around the waist. Probably because they were flying it didn't take long to get to… where ever they were trying to get to. Kirara landed in the middle of this village but didn't shrink down. Which was probably smart because all the villagers were running away… the opposite way that Sueko was staring at. Then again, normally when weird stuff like a weird miniature mountain that probably isn't supposed to be there comes up Sueko goes toward it. And if this was where InuYasha and the rest were they were probably over at the weird mini mountain.

"Um…" said Toboe, blinking at it.

"Come on!" cried Sueko, grabbing his hand and rushing off with Kirara running in front of them.

They came to a big field that might have been flat at some point in the past. But now it had that mini mountain so it wasn't so very flat anymore. And these weird dead guys were fighting her friends. But she had hardly taken that in when she heard somebody cry out "Yoshiko!" and saw Yoshiko, who was looking very strange, jump at this blue haired lady. Kirara cried out as Sueko gasped. Luckily Kirara got the girl before Yoshiko killed her. The half tiger demon stood there for a long time shaking before she looked up and noticed Sueko. Except the reason she had looked strange was because she had black eyes.

"Dammit!" cried Yoshiko.

Then suddenly her eyes turned their regular green and this young guy was striding forward looking really pissed off. Sueko immediately recognized him as Hotaka though when she saw him before he didn't have this weird black shadow hanging around him. She figured it just had to do with showing how angry he was. He stared at Sueko for a long time with his teeth bared. Finally he raised his hand in a fist and then held out his pointer finger slowly brining it down to point at Sueko.

"Damn, damn, damn!" he shouted. "You weren't supposed to show up!"

"Who are you?" said Toboe suddenly.

Hotaka had opened his mouth to say something more and almost fell forward at this. He blinked then slowly stood up straight and lowered his arm. He turned toward Toboe with his eyes narrowed.

"Who the hell are _you_?" he snapped. "You don't look like any of their pathetic friends."

"That's because I'm from the—" started Toboe before Sueko slapped a hand over his mouth. He came up for air smiling sheepishly. "Only kidding! I'm nobody!"

"Well _I_ am the great… something or another… Hotaka!" cried the boy, standing up tall and the shadow dissipated. Yoshiko had disappeared and the weird warrior things had stopped moving. The others came through breaking as many as possible… especially InuYasha who looked extremely annoyed and pissed. Kirara was still with the weird blue haired lady.

"Oh…" muttered Toboe. "But you're just a kid!" he cried, pointing an accusing finger at Hotaka. "How can you be the guy of pure evil that kills… people…"

Hotaka put a hand to his head as if he had a headache. Then he seemed to realize that all the dead people things had stopped moving. He sighed and then turned around toward InuYasha and the others. Sueko found it very frustrating that he was deciding to ignore her now. Not exactly sure why she was doing it, she pulled out her sword and pointed it at Hotaka's back.

"Hey, dude!" she snapped. "Weren't you like just freakin' out about the fact that I was here?"

"Yes, yes, yes," sighed Hotaka off handedly, waving a hand backwards. "I'll deal with you in a minute."

"Excuse me?" cried Sueko, waving her sword a little wildly. Toboe took a step back so as not to get hit. "I thought I'm your big enemy! You should be worried about me."

Hotaka was still holding his head when he turned back around.

"And if I don't deal with your little friends I won't have the _chance_ to deal with you properly!" snarled Hotaka.

"Um…" said Sueko. "I could tell them to stay out of it…"

"Fat chance!" snapped InuYasha. Then he glanced around. "Where'd Sesshomaru get to?"

"He went over there," shrugged the blue haired chick, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.

Then, as if he were really bored, Hotaka snapped his fingers and the dead things started moving again. One of them started toward Toboe and Sueko. The little kid cried out and jumped behind Sueko. She rolled her eyes and hit the dead thing.

"Okay, get over to Kirara!" she cried. "That way you're less likely to get hurt and I don't have to deal with you."

"I guess…" muttered Toboe, starting to walk away. "But what about Hotaka?"

"I'll deal with him!" snarled Sueko. "Just get going."

Then, just as she was wondering whether she should actually fight Hotaka, he made the decision for her. He jumped at her with his weird flaming sword and she quickly jumped out of the way. Then she lifted her sword to block another attack. As she blocked attack after attack she had a feeling that this was going to be a long day…

* * *

As soon as she had felt what ever it was holding her let go, Yoshiko had stumbled away hoping that the voice in her head would just go away! Not that she had really expected it to, but it would have been very nice. She had hardly realized that it had been Sueko who had shown up. Her mind was mostly on the fact that she had almost just killed Kimiko. Eventually she made it to the base of the weird rock formation and collapsed at its base. She hardly noticed that she was still clutching at the weird fan though it had fortunately become blade free again. Suddenly somebody grabbed her upper arm and Yoshiko turned to see Sesshomaru kneeling next to her. She gasped and attempted to pull away. 

"Next time I say rest…" started Sesshomaru, then he just stopped. "What is it that you didn't tell us?"

"Please… go…" muttered Yoshiko, looking down and clutching at her head. "I don't want to… hurt you…"

"I think if you were going to you would have tried by now," said Sesshomaru. "Now, how is he doing this?"

"I… I don't know!" cried Yoshiko, pulling out of his grip and standing up. "Look, soon he'll get bored of Sueko and he'll possess me again! He probably will think it's funner to fight her with me! So you don't want to be here when he…"

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and stood up too, grabbing her arm again as if expecting her to run away. She glared at him, finding it odd that she was acting so much like herself. Then the headache came back and she pulled out of his grasp again to clutch at her head. When Sesshomaru stepped toward her she held up the fan not exactly sure why she was. There was a pause and then… he merely touched her hand.

"Tora?"

Yoshiko's eyes popped open and she looked up at him shakily. There was absolutely no change in his face. And then slowly the voice went away and the headache disappeared. Her eyes turned toward the fan and she glared at it.

"Piece of crap…" she muttered, breaking it in half with her hands.

As she did so, the ground started shaking. The rock formation went back into the ground as the dead warriors slowly turned into dust. Yoshiko turned toward the fight and saw Hotaka push Sueko down. Then in a flash of black smoke he disappeared and then came to stand next to Yoshiko, glaring down at her.

"Damn, damn, damn!" snapped Hotaka, seeming to grow with his anger. "Why do you have to not be possessed anymore?" he whined, suddenly shrinking back down to the same height as Sueko.

"Um… I have a cool boyfriend?" said Yoshiko, blinking down at Hotaka.

"Yoshiko!" cried Sango. "Are you okay?"

"Hmmmm?" said Yoshiko swaying slightly. "Hi Sueko! I missed you!"

"Um…" said Sueko, scratching her head.

"I think I'm going to leave before I throw up… or worse, start acting like you," murmured Hotaka. Then, as he was pretending to retch, he disappeared.

"Wow… I'm kind of…" started Yoshiko. Then she stopped to yawn. "Tired…"

With that she fell toward Sesshomaru, resting her head on him and lost consciousness.

* * *

"Well, Yoshiko seems to be doing fine," said Sango, coming out of a hut a few minutes later. "She's just sleeping is all." 

"Good!" cried Sueko, sighing in relief.

"Will you stop poking me?" cried Toboe suddenly, making everyone look at him. Miroku had been… "analyzing" him. He seemed very fascinated by his ears, so he was poking them rather curiously.

"Who's the kid?" asked InuYasha.

"Uh…" moaned Sueko, putting her face into her hands. "Do I have to…"

"He has doggy ears…" muttered Miroku obviously.

"So!" cried Sueko loudly. "Who's the blue haired girl!"

"Oh," said InuYasha. "She's Sango's half sister. She's some quarter water demon. Who's the kid!"

"Are you sure you want to know?" asked Sueko.

"I'm from the future!" said Toboe excitedly. "And Sueko's past! Yeah… let's just leave it at that…"

"Fascinating…" mumbled Miroku.

"Um… so that means what exactly?" asked Sango bewilderedly.

"Feh…" muttered InuYasha, crossing his arms.

"So what exactly happened while I was gone?" asked Sueko, trying to get past the subject of Toboe as quickly as possible and yet still curious about it.

"Well, first Kimiko showed up…" said InuYasha. "Then Yoshiko collapsed."

"Wait, what!" cried Sueko.

"Well, she was kind of acting weird…" said the blue haired girl thoughtfully. Sueko figured she was the Kimiko girl they were talking about. "Which it's kind of odd that I'd notice that when I don't even know her that well!"

"So… was she, like, possessed or something?" asked Sueko.

"Basically…" said Sango.

"And what was the point of it all?"

"What do you think? What's _always_ the point?" snapped InuYasha.

"Um…" said Sueko hesitantly.

There was a pause where no one did anything. Sueko was just watching Toboe look at a butterfly, which whirled around his head a few times and flew away. Then he jumped up and said excitedly, "Oh, pick me, pick me!"

"What!" cried Sueko.

"Maybe…" said Toboe slowly, "they were trying to kill us all… Like they do on _Digimon_ all the time!"

"What is up with the _Digimon_ thing?" cried Sueko.

"There was a marathon on TV this morning…" said Toboe.

"Okay… I ask yet again… Who's the kid!" cried InuYasha.

"Sit!" cried Sueko, standing up and pointing at him angrily.

"Hmm…" said Sango, blinking a few times. "Anyways… I found this dark colored stone with Yoshiko when I was in the hut. I think it was the thing that might have been controlling her, but I don't really know what it is… Hey, Sueko, maybe you do!" She added, holding up this black colored rock.

"Not really…" said Sueko. "Isn't that Yoshiko's area of expertise?"

"Oh yeah!" said Toboe suddenly, pointing at the stone. "That's what I was supposed to warn you all about!"

"Huh?" said InuYasha, still on the ground.

* * *

It had been a very good dream. Filled with libraries filled with books, being human and building a house with Sesshomaru… Okay, maybe it had just been a weird dream. But Yoshiko still felt very good when she woke up. Sesshomaru was standing over her. When he saw her awake he nodded and left the hut. Apparently he just wanted to make sure for himself that she was all right or something like that. For a minute Yoshiko thought about going back to sleep. Then she recalled Hotaka with the black stone and decided it would be smart to actually tell her friends about it. 

So she got up, sighing heavily, and exited the hut behind Sesshomaru. Her eyes landed upon InuYasha on the ground like Sueko had just said 'sit' and a weird kid with black dog-ears pointing at… a dark stone. Sango was holding it up for everybody to see. Yoshiko cleared her throat guiltily and everybody turned toward her happily. InuYasha pulled himself off the ground just to sit down and cross his arms, looking away. She had a feeling that he was thinking about what had been said about Sueko possibly dieing. Then the weird kid's eyes lightened up.

"Aunt Yoshiko!" he cried, jumping up and hugging her around the waist. "You're okay!"

There was a pause where nothing was said and it was almost completely quiet. Even the village seemed to have stopped everything it was doing. A bird gave a small chirp, then stopped suddenly. Later Yoshiko saw Kirara walking away with a bird in its mouth looking very pleased of herself. Then the boy pulled away blushing slightly, scratching his head and laughing sheepishly.

"Oops!"

"Oh yeah," snapped Sueko, hands on her hips. "Big oops."

"What the…" said Yoshiko a little taken aback. Then she looked from the boy, to Sueko and then finally to InuYasha. Something clicked in her head. "Oh… He's so cute!" she cried, hugging him herself. "I want a kid like him!"

"EXCUSE ME!" shouted Sueko.

"Er…" said the boy, looking weird because Yoshiko was hugging him around the head.

"Its kind of obvious, isn't it?" sighed Yoshiko exasperatedly, letting go of the boy. "Wait, what's your name?"

"Um… Toboe?" muttered the boy.

"You don't know your own name?" cried Yoshiko. The she sighed. "Oh, whatever. So, you're from the future, right?"

"How can you tell?" said Toboe, stepping away from her.

"Because your face structure is exactly like Sueko's," said Yoshiko. "And as far as I know she doesn't have any weird half-demon brothers – "

"Quarter demon…" muttered Toboe.

"Yeah, that's what I meant!" cried Yoshiko, throwing her hands into the air. "Anyways, she's also way too young to have a kid at this moment in time so you _have_ to be Sueko's kid from the future."

"WHAT?" cried Miroku, Sango, Kimiko and InuYasha. Then they turned toward Sueko she grinned sheepishly and waved slightly.

"Hi…" she said, taking a step back.

"What is going on?" asked InuYasha grouchily.

"Now is not the time to discuss this," sighed Yoshiko. "We need to talk about this," she said, holding up the black stone. Sango looked at her own hand in surprise.

"How'd you get that?" she cried.

"Secret," said Yoshiko, grinning. "This is called a Dark Stone… at least that's what the only book in the whole entire world that mentions them calls them."

"Er…" said InuYasha, turning toward her.

"Apparently Hotaka can make them but he has to have the Spirit Stone to get the power to do it," continued Yoshiko. "Once he makes one he can make as many as he wants without the use of the Spirit Stone. There are tons of theories as to what they're used for… all made by the same person…"

She stopped glaring at nothing in particular as if annoyed at this person who came up with all these theories. Then she blinked and turned back toward everybody smiling brightly.

"So… any questions?" she asked, clapping her hands together.

"I have one," said Sueko. "Why are you acting like my friend?"

"Because I am your friend," said Yoshiko, raising her eyebrow at Sueko worriedly. "Or did you forget that while you were away from home for… let's think… AN ENTIRE WEEK!"

"Tomorrow it'll be a week," snapped Sueko.

"Whatever," muttered Yoshiko, turning away and crossing her arms. "I missed you no matter how long you were gone. Even if it had been only ten minutes!"

"Now what do we do with it?" asked InuYasha, standing up and snatching up the Dark Stone from Yoshiko. "It's obviously dangerous…"

"Duh," muttered Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

Before she could say anything else InuYasha dropped it on to the ground and pulled out the Tetsusaiga. Then with a cry he brought it down upon the stone but before it actually hit the actual stone a small barrier pushed InuYasha away. He landed ten feet away. He lay there for a minute then suddenly jumped to his feet, rushing toward the Dark Stone, pointing a threatening finger at it and swearing at it profusely.

"Yeah, that's going to help," muttered Yoshiko, rolling her eyes again. She went over and pushed InuYasha away. "Look, only Sueko's sword can destroy it moron!"

"Who you calling moron!" cried InuYasha, turning toward her.

"Obviously you because you're a freakin' block head," snapped Yoshiko. "Now put away that thing before you poke somebody's eye out. It's no help to us when you're swinging it around like a silly club!"

"Yes, Mother," muttered InuYasha sarcastically, putting away his sword. Yoshiko smiled at him.

"Good boy!" she said, clapping him on the shoulder.

He rolled his eyes and walked away. Nobody thought twice about it as Yoshiko turned toward Sueko.

"Okay, now _you_ get to destroy the Dark Stone," said Yoshiko. "I have no idea how you would do it, but I bet you can get away with wielding your sword like a big club!"

"If you say so…" said Sueko, pulling out her sword slowly and staring at Yoshiko weirdly.

Then she walked over to the Dark Stone and looked down at it. She raised her sword then looked around at everybody who was staring at her. She coughed in embarrassment and merely tapped the stone with the tip of her sword. Then she pushed down at it with all her strength. Finally the stone cracked, fell into many different pieces until disappearing completely.

"Oooh!" said Yoshiko. "That was cool!" Then she patted Sueko on the back. "Okay, I'll be _right_ back!"

With that she rushed off in the direction that InuYasha had disappeared in. She eventually found him sitting in a tree staring in the distance. When Yoshiko came nearer he looked down slowly. She held her hands behind her back as he just looked down at her. Then she smiled slightly.

"Can I come up?" she asked.

"I guess," said InuYasha, shrugging and looking away again.

Yoshiko looked up at him and then looked around. Then she shrugged and merely leaned against the tree trunk, too lazy to actually climb up. Climbing trees was something she did when she was younger for fun. Not when she was depressed.

"So, what's on your mind?" asked Yoshiko, trying to start up a conversation.

"What Hotaka said…" said InuYasha, "about the fact that Akemi died… is it true?"

"Oh…" said Yoshiko, her brow furrowing slightly. "You see… I didn't want to say anything hoping that it would change fate…"

"So it is true?" sighed InuYasha, not sounding at all like himself. She had expected him to get mad at her or quiet and sullen. Not this sort of helpless sounding InuYasha.

"Unfortunately," sighed Yoshiko. "But maybe you knowing will change fate!" she added, grinning half heartedly. "Except I don't think the others need to know so how about we let it stay our own little secret."

InuYasha jumped down from the tree and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Um…" said Yoshiko, blinking.

"I was starting to think the same thing," sighed InuYasha. "We should probably go before they start to wonder where we are."

"Oh… yeah…" muttered Yoshiko.

They walked silently back to the others who were talking to Sueko and Toboe. The two looked as if they would much rather not be having the conversation they were having. And they looked very thankful when InuYasha and Yoshiko showed up. Miroku opened his mouth, probably to ask what they were doing, when Yoshiko turned toward InuYasha.

"You know what?" she cried. "I haven't like practiced with my sword since I beat your butt when I was human!"

"Wh-what?" cried InuYasha, taking a step back.

"So… give me!" she cried, taking InuYasha's sword.

"What was that for?" snapped InuYasha, reaching for the sword. Yoshiko put a hand on his face to keep him away. "Get off!"

"But if I do you'll try and take my sword away!" cried Yoshiko.

"It's not your sword!" growled InuYasha.

"Hey, maybe it'll stop you and your brother from fighting over it," said Yoshiko, grinning. Sesshomaru blinked.

"Yeah, but then we'll fight over the sword!" said InuYasha exasperatedly.

"Not if you, like, don't…" said Yoshiko lamely. "Or I could kill you! What do you think of that doggy boy?"

"D-doggy boy… What the hell?" cried InuYasha, taking a step back.

"I got tired of mutt," sighed Yoshiko. "Anyways, let's go find a demon so I can kill it with my cool new sword."

"Can you just give it back?" cried InuYasha.

"You're just jealous because last time I used it I was able to use the Wind Scar on first try!" cried Yoshiko, pointing an accusing finger at InuYasha. "What, afraid that I'll use the Backlash Wave this time?"

"Show off…" muttered InuYasha.

"I'm sorry I understand swords more than you," said Yoshiko, handing the Tetsusaiga back to a confused InuYasha. "They all have voices you know. You just need to listen to it… like Sueko does! Except I don't think other swords actually talk… it's just something my dad said." She stopped, thinking. Then she shrugged. "Anyways!"

"What now?" sighed InuYasha exasperatedly. Yoshiko shrugged.

"I don't know!" she said happily.

"Well, I think if everybody is just fine I'll leave now," said Sesshomaru, turning around and starting to leave.

"Without saying good-bye?" cried Yoshiko, her eyes wide and watery. Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows.

"Good-bye?"

"Oh! I see how it is!" said Yoshiko, waving her hands.

Suddenly Toboe's eyes went wide and he jumped behind Yoshiko, glancing around her at Sesshomaru. She blinked and then looked at him from under her arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Toboe nodded… then shook his head. He thought for a minute and finally shrugged. "Okay…" Yoshiko turned back toward Sesshomaru and something clicked in her mind. She turned back toward Toboe completely grinning evilly. "You're afraid of Sesshomaru!"

"Um…" said Toboe, blushing slightly. "I'm sorry your boy… He's really weird!"

"I'll leave you to this," said Sesshomaru, walking off.

"Yeah, you do that…" muttered Yoshiko. Then she turned back around. "Bye!"

"So, where are we going now?" asked Miroku.

"Hmmmm…" said Yoshiko, looking like she was thinking really hard. "I don't know!"

* * *

**Footnotes:**

(1) – Toboe is actually the word "howling" in Japanese. So of course Sueko thinks the name is weird… what kind of person is named "howling"? And yes, I did get that out of _Wolf's Rain_… more on that later.

(2) – I'm going to say this right off the bat: whenever this kid—Toboe—is confused, unsure, worried, or anything of the sorts like that, he talks like the sentence is a question. Hence the question-mark. They are not grammatical errors in my part. The question mark is there for a reason! And you might find that rather an useless thing to say but there are some grammar freaks out there, so I have to tell it for them.

(3) – Hey, remember this one? If not, I'll remind you! A kotatsu is a heated table with a blanket on it. And it might be mentioned later on but I won't remind you anymore… Yeah, if ever you come across a weird Japanese thing and you don't know what it is, that's probably because we've already told you! So you could look in previous chapters instead of wondering about what it could be. Like Tora equals tiger! Lol, I pray to God you got that one drilled to your brains, otherwise you're probably a very confused reader when it comes to Yoshiko being called Tora…

(4) – Since I'm American and want to make my job easier—and also because I'm lazy—I'm sticking to American money because I'm American and—guess what?—I use _American_ money! What a concept! However, I found this nifty website where you can type an amount of money for your country and see how much it is in a different country. So if is nice and let's me post the links I use for research I'll post the website on here. If not… well, than this site just sucks! Or is really, really, evil…

(5) – Yeah, I have never watched _Sailor Moon _before. I mean, I watched a few episodes when I was, like, five because my older sister watched it. I don't remember too many things about my five-year-old life, so I barely recall the show. I didn't even understand the show at that age! I had no clue what Tokyo was, barely got what Japan was, didn't get why all the city signs on the show had these funky symbols on them, and annoyed my sister with my thousand questions. (Yes, I was pretty much like Toboe with asking what something was every ten seconds. I'm surprised my mom didn't put me up for adoption. I must have been one annoying kid! And the sad part is that I still ask a whole bunch of questions all the time because I'm a naturally curious person, and I'm fifteen now. FIFTEEN! Not FIVE!). So I didn't watch too many episodes back then because the show just confused me. But I have watched several _Sailor Moon _AMV's. So yeah… And in Japanese, according to my memory of the AMV's I've watched a million times, which show the captions of what the people are saying because that's how AMV makers work, they call Sailor Moon Usagi. That's her Japanese name. In America her name is like Selene or something… If I'm remembering my friend's ranting correctly. (Two of my friends are totally obsessed with _Sailor Moon_). So that might solve some of your confusion if you're not aware of her Japanese name. Seeing how this is a fan fic taking place in _Japan_ I figured saying her Japanese name would be the correct thing to do. Yet I'm not doing this with _Digimon_… see, I'm just weird that way… And yeah, I had to find some _Sailor Moon_ website to get that catchphrase in the next paragraph, so blame them if it's wrong, not me!

(6) – I've had this "Anime Party" thing planned out for ages. By the time you're done reading it you should know why. When I first got the idea I knew a little about _Trigun_ because my friend really liked that show and went on and on about it (sheesh, all my friend's are obsessive about something and go on and on about them… Like me!). I decided that Akio would probably go as Vash the Stampede because it sounded like an anime Akio would like. (Vash is the main character of _Trigun_. And I'm sorry if I'm spelling his name wrong!) Then I borrowed the first six manga of _Trigun_ from my other friend and ran across the character Wolfwood. His character matched Akio a lot more than Vash so I decided to make him be Wolfwood instead. But anyways, at the time I was going to have Akio say this awesome quote from the manga of Wolfwood introducing himself. Sadly, right now it's August and I have no way of getting that manga from my friend, and I suck at remembering quotes and stuff… so I had to improvise. Ah, it's just so tragic indeed…

_­_(7) – For those of you who have never watched/read _Full Metal Alchemist_, the frequent joke on the show/manga is how short Edward Elric is compared to his little brother, Alfonso Elric (Al lost his body so his soul was put into this giant suit of armour… um, yeah…). Whenever the brothers travel around and meet new people they always assume that Al is the famous "Full Metal" alchemist because of the armour, but really "Full Metal" is Ed, who had a metal arm and leg (Ed is an official State Alchemist so he gets a cool nick name. Al can do alchemy too, but he isn't a State Alchemist like his bro so he isn't special enough to have a nickname… apparently). Then Ed throws a temper tantrum, including jumping up and down, yelling, and waving his arms and legs madly about, about how just because he's a short fifteen year old doesn't mean everyone has to make fun of him, and how Al sucks because everyone always assumes he's the Full Metal, and all sorts of crap like that… Yeah. And Keitaro's pretty tall so for him to be dressed up as the short Edward Elric is just a bit odd. Though since Sueko would have not seen that many episodes of FMA I don't know why she'd get that…

(8) – Did you guess whom Keitaro's dad is portraying? Spike from _Cowboy Bebop_, of course! He's like the guy with poofy hair…and Faye is the girl with the yellow outfit. And I so stool the name Haruka from _Love Hina_. Funny how _Love Hina's_ Haruka is the main character's aunt, and the main character's name is Keitaro! Watch out, or I'll put a character named Naru in the fan fic and she and Keitaro will start dating! ;)

(9) – Yeah, on _Wolf's Rain_ they have these upper-class people they call nobles. Not much more I can say unless you want me to explain to you word-for-word about the show, and I think after all these chapters you people would be rather fed up with my ramblings so I won't even start. But keep in mind that as your watching the show you're following the four main characters, which are wolves, and all the humans are just part of the scenery. Practically… You care about the wolves, and you could give a rat's ass about what happens to the humans. Unless you're one of those people who cares about Cher, Hubb, and Quent… but whatever… (And I'm pretty sure Quent is the dude who ones the half wolf Blue but I'm not totally sure about that… sorry if I'm wrong!).

(10) – _cough-Miss. Congeniality-cough_! I don't remember the quote from the movie too well because I suck at that sort of thing, but it's the part where Sandra Bullock, playing Gracie, is teasing the dude I forgot the name of. She's saying it in a sing-song voice, just like Akio was back there. Though I have no clue why he'd possibly watch a "chick-flick" like that for…

(11) – I thought I would stop it with the footnotes? Sorry… Jan-Ken-Pon is the Japanese version of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Same concept, except afterwards whoever wins gets to hit the person with whoever lost. Example: Yoshiko got scissors, InuYasha paper. (why am I using those two for examples? _Sigh_). So Yoshiko gets to hit InuYasha with scissors. (Yoshiko: Yay! InuYasha: Feh…). So two fingers together. Rock would be a fist, paper a slap. At least, that's how my friend, who takes the Japanese language class at my school, taught me. Hey, in Korea they just punch people really, really, _really_ hard. Like, as hard as possible. At least the Japanese way you can be nice about it… Except according to my friend the Japanese exchange students weren't nice about hitting. And she had been hitting them lightly because she was trying to be nice to the foreigners. Ha!

(12) – She's talking about "Paradise" by Raj Ramayya, if anyone actually cares. Hey, is Raj supposed to be a boy or a girl? I can't really tell by their singing and I have no clue if Raj's a boy or girl name…

(13) – More information about this whole thing in my Author's Notes below… I just wanted to say that the site I got it from has scripts from the actual show (more info below) but the way they have it written is like "Kari: Blah, blah, blah! Cody: Blah, blah, blah-blah!" So I have no clue how they're saying it, how they're moving their body, etc. The context of the quotes in the fan fic make it sound like their frustrated and angry. (And I asked Ravyn, who watched the show, and she said TK was really pissed of and Davis kinda was too). So I put things like "snapped Davis," and "replied TK" to make more sense. But I haven't actually watched the episode and didn't want to put too much detail because I had no clue what the "action" was, so yeah… Sorry if it sounded rather boring, but I couldn't just write something that didn't happen in the show!

**AUTHOR'S NOTES, Part Two!  
**I'm sorry if Wolfwood's (the character Akio dressed up as at the party from _Trigun_) doesn't have a giant cross that's actually a gun. Well, I know he has a giant cross, I'm just not sure about it being a gun. I've only read the first six manga of _Trigun_ and that was a while ago and I'm not sure about that little bit of information… However, I found it a cute thing for the two boys to joke about so I put it in anyways. Sorry Akio, but cardboard was never a threatening weapon.

As for _Naruto_, I've only heard my friend go on and on about that show a million times but I've never actually watched it or read the manga… I went on a website to double check to see if I was remembering the three kids' names right… And they seem like the main characters but I'm not sure so sorry if I'm wrong about that! And the website said they were twelve… if that's wrong you can complain to the website, not me!

Lately I've been into _Digimon_, which is really weird… Ravyn was already into it, and I'd watched a few episodes before… Now I'm watching it whenever it's on TV (except the season where it's actually a trading card game because that, to me, is lame and annoying). I knew before hand that Sueko would kind of be into it as a kid (out of _Digimon_, _Pokèmon_, and _Yu-Gi-Oh!_, that is, which are basically the three main Kid-Anime shows in America… and for today's pointless information: Keitaro was a _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ fan as a kid but denies it because now he thinks the show is so stupid and is rather ashamed of how much he liked it as a kid, and I think Akio would like _DragonBall Z_. Not that I've ever seen more than ten minutes of that show, but it seems like all they do is attempt to kill each other, and… that seems like an Akio thing. _Laughs_ Obviously I made Tamika like _Digimon _too but I think she'd also like _Pokèmon_… She'd just find all the little creatures on both shows so cute! Though I think she'd like _Hamtaro_ more—it's a kid-anime show about hamsters that go on little adventures…). And I knew that when Toboe showed up he'd find the whole concept of television and comic books so freakin' cool… and he's a dorky kid so I had to get him obsessed with a really dorky anime show. Why not _Digimon_? Did you catch the foreshadowing? On this one _Digimon_ website Ravyn went to they had scripts from the TV show, and I believe we took lines from episode eleven from season two, entitled, "Storm of Friendship." According to Ravyn some Digimon actually got possessed in it… Seeing how Ken really likes to possess Digimon to do his bidding. And I think Ken is a little possessed as well, seeing how he's actually a good person but gets turned evil somehow to become the Digimon Emperor… Um, yeah. And then right afterwards Toboe and Sueko go off to save the possessed Yoshiko… If that's incorrect you can yell at Ravyn; I haven't actually watched that episode yet! Yeah, I'll attempt to put the link of the site at the end of my "Notes" if any of you are Digi-Fans and wanna check it out.

I'm pretty sure my anime information is correct… I don't go into detail with a show/comic unless I've watched/read it. Now, I have never watched _Sailor Moon_ and had to rely on hearing about it and websites, but that's probably the only exception. If I'm wrong on any information please don't harass me about it in your reply! Except I really like _Wolf's Rain_—not as much as Tamika, mind you—so if I'm wrong on that stuff… that's just sad… But, yeah, despite copyright/publication dates I think I'm accurate with the information. Though I bet that if our fan fic was a TV show they'd take all the anime stuff out except Tamika's obsession because it's somewhat important and Toboe's _Digimon_ thing because that's just cute… Yeah…

Anyways, I hope you liked it! I tried to make the whole Toboe thing as believable as possible. I'm actually really picky about this sort of thing (you know, like characters in fan fiction and stuff being able to do all these amazing things with no real explanation. Which is why Kagome kind of annoys me, because she's apparently such a powerful priestess. Which is fine… but how in the hell is she's more powerful than Kikyo when she's Kikyo's reincarnation! WTF?). As for his weird name… Yes, I did get it from _Wolf's Rain._ See, when I first thought him up he popped into my head rather randomly. At first he was just some kid that was a younger version of InuYasha who showed up in modern day and was going to warn Sueko about some really bad thing. So then I tried to kind of figure out what the hell was up… And slowly came up with the whole thing… (By the way, this was months ago, so lots of time as gone by). And then I told about it to Ravyn because I found it was a really cool idea, except I figured she would probably find the idea really lame… But, amazingly, she liked it! She said he reminded her of Chris from _Charmed_, who was also a son to a main character (Piper) who came back from the future to warn the "Charmed ones" about some bad thing. At the time his name was "Sueko's son," which isn't really a name and is really annoying to have to say over and over again… "kid" gets confusing sometimes and "InuYasha's son" was just harder to say… So then I started calling him Toboe because, as a way to describe his character, I said he was a lot like Toboe from _Wolf's Rain_. And I had just seen the first five episodes of the show… I guess if it weren't for WR I would have never come up with him. But, though my Toboe has changed in my head over time, they are still pretty similar. Both are young… Not immature like Shippo, but innocent and naïve. Hige always calls Toboe "the runt" because he's pretty small compared to the other three wolves in the pack. But time went by and I realized that my Toboe was a lot different from WR's Toboe, even if they were pretty similar at times. Which was cool, because I didn't want to feel like I was literally taking the WR character and putting him in my fan fic… So yeah. I tried to be as clear and believable with my explanations as possible (which is why I just made it one flashback thing… considering I've never really written flashbacks before I think it's pretty cool. Though I imagined it so much cooler in my head… Sesshomaru kicked ass! Then again, I suck at writing Sesshomaru… _sigh_). If, however, you have any questions afterwards, you're more than welcome to ask them in your reply. Though I might explain things more as the fan fic goes on…

Yeah, no one really reacted to Toboe… That's because the scene where that part is kinda "discussed" didn't fit in. Besides, they were just getting over the whole Yoshiko-was-possessed thing. It probably hasn't sunk it yet… Hopefully I'll go more on that in the next update! Or Ravyn, whoever is writing it…

Had fun reading? Good! Now review! And I have yet to figure out how in the hell I'm supposed to put links on this stupid page... I could have sworn I did it before but NO! now I can't... God, can they just make it to where the stupid flippin' program, like, WORKS? Or is that just too hard for them to do!


	34. Sites Used

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**Yeah, I know, you've had enough with the last chapter… and I'm sorry the last two chapters were really long… I think they'll get shorter with the new updates. Anyways, this is a majorly pointless chapter dedicated to me trying to post those stupid links! I really don't get why is not letting me do this… _sigh_ Anyways, I think simplifying the site's url and then writing directions so you can get to the right page is the only thing I can do. And you probably don't really care about the whole posting-the-sites thing… But I'd really like to give them credit. I have this big pet peeve about people not giving other people credit for the work… Um, yeah, whatever. Keep in mind that I've put spaces and stuff so it won't get funky for the url's… I recommend just typing the url's by hand, not copy/pasting them, so you get the correct sites. And I tried to just type the main part of the url and then give you directions on how to get the exact page I used. So that might explain a few things... 

**The calendar site:  
**This one is pretty easy; go to "timeanddate. com" where you'll see two grey squares. The one on the right has the link "calendar." Click that, and then your able to type in a year and scroll for a country to get any calendar for any year for any country. Or almost every year and country… It also shows the phases of the moon. And I'm sure the site has plenty of other uses, I just haven't looked.

**Japanese school information site:  
**This one is pretty tricky… when I type in "indiana. edu" I get a Yahoo! Search. If that happens to you too, click on the very first site option. For the description the url says "www .indiana. edu" so anything like that should work. Any-who, you should get to a page with "Indiana University" written in large red letters on the top of the site. Now, on the top right hand corner is a "search" thing. Type in "Japan" and push "Go" or the ENTER button… this should get you to a page with your searched topics. The top choice is the one I clicked on: it says "National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies" in red and it's url is "indiana. edu/ japan/" with this funny swirly thing between the / and japan that won't seem to show up on here. This should get you to the National Clearinghouse site… Yeah… On the top menu click on "General Information" and then, once there, you should see these paragraphs with links in them. Now, in the paragraph with "Japan Digests" look till you see the link "Daily Life in Japanese High Schools" which should take you to the site I used to get information on like yobiko and all that crap.

**Kabuki and Nihon Buyo sites:  
**Again, when I typed the "amphi. com" part I get Yahoo! Search… if the same happens to you you'll want the second option, "Peggy's Japan Page." The url is "amphi. com/ psteffen/fmf" with a swirly thing in between the / and psteffen that won't show up on here... so try that… You should get this page with a circle with words and pictures on the right hand side. Click on the part of the circle called "Culture." The top heading of this page should read "Japanese Culture." Click on the first link shown, called "Kabuki and Theater" (duh). There's the site! For the second site with goes into more detail, scroll to the bottom where they have written in bold print "For more specific information on Kabuki, visit these sites:" You can go to either one but I only went on the first link, "Kabuki for Everyone." That's it!

**The currency converter thingy-majig site:  
**This one is easy: "xe. com/ucc/" for the main one. If you need more options, simply click on the link "See all currencies" below the button "Perform Currency Conversion."

**Digimon website:  
**This site is pretty useful for _Digimon_ information… complete with multiple seasons and the movies. And the scripts. Any-who, try "geocities. com/angelsscript1/mysitemain. htm" and you should get there nicely. 

Yeah, that's all the sites I used. There's your pointless information for today. Hope you enjoyed it! Now excuse me while I write more fan fic…


	35. Demon Birdy

**AUTHOR'S NOTES  
**Oh… my… God… I updated! Aren't you so proud of me? Yeah, thought you'd be… :) Sorry about the "taking forever" update thing… Blame Ravyn! She wrote most of the crap and took forever doing it…Which is partly school's fault and partly mine… Because I randomly decided to watch _Digimon_ one day and now I'm, like, totally obsessed… like, as bad as Toboe… _bows head in shame_ Oh well. I'm sorry! At least you got an update! 

But now Ravyn is making me write this _Digimon_ fan fic with her… So that's _really_ helping with this fan fic. And again I'm sorry…but you can read the _Digimon_ fan fic while you wait for this one! Anyways, it's like this season two fan fic with season one people in it a bunch because they rock. (In other words, the Davis-Ken group with the Tai-Matt group too). It—the fan fic—is called _Believing in the Crests_ and it's under Ravyn's name (her full username is Ravyn89) with Matt/OC and Ken/OC. Yeah, not trying to totally Spam or whatever but just incase you wanted to know! I would…because I'm the curious type. Like, more curious than a cat… how sad… Go read fan fic! (both would be good ;) ).

**DISCLAIMER  
**Sueko: Hey, everyone! You know the drill… 

Miroku: Neither Ravyn or Kayhera own the popular anime show, "InuYasha." Though why it can't be called "Miroku" beats me…

Sango: _hits Miroku on head_ Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha. And everything that comes with. Including perverted monks…

Miroku: He-he…

Shippo: Not to mention Sunrise, Viz, and all those people who made the anime and stuff.

Yoshiko: However, anything you wouldn't recognize from the TV show or manga belongs to… _pauses dramatically_ Ravyn! And Kayhera… Yay, that includes me!

InuYasha: You sound way too happy about that to be normal…

Yoshiko: _glares_

Sueko: So… um… yeah!

Toboe: Yeah, no stealing the OC's, sorry.

Sueko: What are OC's?

Toboe: "Original Characters."

Sueko: Oh… Hey, how come I don't get to know all this cool author stuff?

Yoshiko: Because you're unworthy?

Sueko: But I'm the main character! I'm the one with special powers, and I even have a cool sword to go with!

InuYasha: Mines better!

Sueko: So you've been lead to believe.

InuYasha: Um… wait, what!

(I have too much fun with this sort of thing… too bad I can't think of anything for InuYasha to say besides cranky stuff… _sigh_)

And Ravyn named the chapter, that's why it sucks.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Two: Demon Birdy**

Sueko sighed, sitting down next to InuYasha at the campfire tiredly. "Today's been a very long day…"

"If you say so…" muttered InuYasha, preoccupied with some ramón. Sueko just sighed, hugging her knees together to keep warm.

"So, do you think some random demon is going to show up and try to kill you?" asked Sueko casually. "They seem to do that a lot on the new moon…"

"Feh…" muttered InuYasha, narrowing his grey eyes.

"Oh, don't worry," said Sueko sweetly. "The night will be over before you know it!"

"Damn… No more…" muttered InuYasha, tossing the ramón cup sadly and completely ignoring Sueko.

"Litter bug…" muttered Sueko, rolling her eyes. Then she leaned back a bit, sighing again.

Noticing this, InuYasha said, "That's almost like the outfit Kagome used to wear, only…"

"Skimpier?" said Shippo, butting in.

"Sure…" said InuYasha.

"Huh?" said Sueko, not quite getting it. When she looked down at what she was wearing she finally noticed that she was still in her Sailor Moon costume.

"Crap!" she cried, jumping up and startling InuYasha. She turned slightly pink. "I'll just… go and… like, change…"

"But…" started InuYasha, but Sueko had already grabbed her bag and left to go change in the bushes or something. "You don't have to…" he mumbled, slumping back down in defeat.

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" asked Shippo, walking over to where he was right in front of InuYasha.

"What?" said InuYasha distractedly, too busy glaring at the ground threateningly.

"You _want_ Sueko to stay in that outfit, don't you?" said Shippo excitedly.

"What!" cried InuYasha, jumping to his feet as his face turned bright red. Then he crossed his arms and mumbled something that Shippo couldn't quite hear.

"Well, her skirt _is_ pretty short…" said Toboe. That startled InuYasha as well, since the kid hadn't said much since he had been pretty preoccupied drawing with some odd coloring tools from Sueko's time. InuYasha didn't know what to call them since they weren't the normal crayons Shippo used to use. They were like wooden sticks with color coming out of the tips… "I though her school uniform thing was pretty short, but that Sailor thing is way shorter than that…"

"And just what exactly are you implying by that?" snapped InuYasha, glaring at Toboe. But the little twerp didn't reply, just continued drawing some really weird picture.

"What are you doing up on your feet?" asked Sueko innocently, who was walking back to the campfire. She was wearing a blue sweatshirt that was made out of some sort of fuzzy material and a light purple colored skirt that wasn't as short as the other outfit but still pretty… "skimpy"…

_Oh well…_ thought InuYasha wearily in his head as he sat back down. Now he had yet another reason to loath the new moon: it was making him have all these perverted thoughts. Though perhaps obsessing about a skirt length wasn't as bad as what Miroku could have come up with…

"What is taking Miroku and Sango so long, anyways?" InuYasha thought out loud.

"Maybe Miroku got himself into some trouble," said Sueko. "Ahh, it's probably just taking them longer than usual to get supplies. Or they've deserted us and are staying in some cozy inn somewhere. Though that doesn't seem like a Sango thing to do. Then again, Yoshiko went with them earlier and maybe she's taking them up. Or maybe some random demon attacked the village and they're having a jolly good time defeating it without us!"

"I think I would have smelled the demon coming," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes amusingly.

"No you wouldn't. You're human now!" said Sueko brightly.

"Right…"

"You have a terrible time remembering these sorts of things. Remember that one time that giant ogre attacked? You were quite the idiot then!"

"Feh…" muttered InuYasha.

"Oh, is that all you've got to say now?" said Sueko. "Sheesh, Yoshiko isn't _this_ lame on the half moon… Hey, Toboe, are you this lame on… whatever time you turn human?"

Toboe just shrugged.

"Huh…" said Sueko, rather annoyed with the response. "So when do you do it? The quarter moon?"

"Ha-ha," muttered Toboe. "If you must know, on the full moon."

"Wow, let's just be completely opposite of InuYasha!" said Sueko, giggling a bit. But she stopped when no one joined in. "Am I the only one all hyperish?"

"InuYasha's just grouchy," said Shippo.

"Feh."

"You know what? You eating ramón made me kinda hungry…" said Sueko suddenly. "Hey, Toboe, don't mind me as I pilfer through your bag for food!"

"Sure…" said Toboe distractedly.

"Ramón… ramón… All you have is ramón…" muttered Sueko. "I'm surrounded by ramón freaks! Hmm… Wow, potato chips, something new… Ah ha!" she cried suddenly. "Pocky!"

"Wait a second…" said InuYasha, taking the bag from Sueko and trying to smell it. Of course, it was rather difficult seeing how his nose wasn't as strong. Then he snapped, "Hey, this has Kagome's scent on it! Why would _you_ have something with Kagome's scent on it!"

"Hmm…" said Sueko, annoyed by the attitude. Plus she was busy trying to open the box of Pocky. "They never got rid of Kagome's stuff and I found it would be rather rude to throw some dead girls stuff away… So I kept it. Hey…" she added suddenly, turning a bit pink. "Do I have a particular scent?"

"Uh…" said InuYasha, his eyes widening suddenly.

"Of course you do!" said… of all people… Yoshiko, who suddenly appeared from a clump of trees.

InuYasha, Sueko, and Shippo all simultaneously jumped up three feet and screamed out. Shippo almost jumped into the fire and was only saved by being grabbed by Toboe. Actually, Toboe's only reaction was to sit up and grab Shippo before he caught on fire.

"What… is… _wrong_ with you?" panted Sueko, clenching her heart. Actually, she wasn't sure if she was yelling at Yoshiko, Toboe, or both.

"Oh… just in the area…" said Yoshiko. "Oh, and nice catch," she added to Toboe.

"Oh… thanks?" said Toboe, putting down Shippo.

"Yeah…" said Sueko darkly. "What's wrong with you!"

"All the village kids like to surprise people…" said Toboe boredly. "Particularly me because they find me really cool for some reason… So after awhile you get used to it…"

"Damn…" muttered Yoshiko, leaning her back against the tree. "I'll have to keep that in mind…"

"Hey, where's Miroku and Sango?" asked InuYasha curiously.

"Hmm?" said Yoshiko, raising her eyebrows. Then her eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her forehead. "I _knew_ I forgot something… Buh-bye!"

And with a wave Yoshiko turned around and hurried back towards the village.

"That was interesting…" muttered Toboe before going back to his drawing.

"Everyone I know is really weird…" muttered InuYasha.

"Including you!" said Sueko, pointing at him with a stick of Pocky.

"Oh, and you're normal yourself?" snapped InuYasha.

"This is worse than back home!" moaned Toboe, putting his hands in his face.

"Sorry?" said Sueko, nibbling at the food innocently.

"So is the future any interesting?" asked Shippo to Toboe, as if attempting to start a conversation.

"Which one?" asked Toboe. "Sueko's is really weird. It kind of gives me a headache after awhile."

"Even I would have to agree with that one," said Sueko. "Don't even get me started on homework…"

"I still can't believe your this puny even in the past," said Toboe with a grin, putting a hand to Shippo's head as if measuring his height.

"Hey! Demons take longer to grow up than humans do!" said Shippo, crossing his arms.

"Didn't you say you were only twelve?" said Sueko. "You aren't that young looking compared to that age…"

"You seem to be forgetting that I'm not full demon…" said Toboe.

"So? I'm half demon and it still took me longer to grow up," said InuYasha.

"Really?" said Sueko, sounding interested.

Toboe just rolled his eyes. "But I'm quarter demon. So that's almost fully human. So apparently the whole demon thing doesn't really apply for me."

"Kimiko grew up with Sango, and they seemed about the same age," said Shippo helpfully.

"It's just all confusing to me…" muttered Sueko. "But you are pretty small for your age… so maybe it's just a little bit slow."

"Apparently I'm supposed to hit some growth spurt any time now and just insanely start growing…" said Toboe. "That's what you said, at least!" he added, pointing at InuYasha with a colored pencil.

"I did?" said InuYasha, blinking. "When did I do that?"

"In the future, I presume," said Sueko.

"That's kind of a weird thing to say," said InuYasha, leaning back with his hands and chuckling a bit. "I mean, it's not like I'm related to him… Well, I could be distantly, since he's a dog demon…"

Sueko and Toboe glanced at each other worriedly. Neither had mentioned to anyone that InuYasha was his dad. Sure, everyone knew he was Sueko's son but that kind of had to go with the explanation a bit…

Sueko cleared her throat nervously. "Um… Hey, InuYasha?" she croaked.

"What?" said InuYasha, raising his eyebrows.

"Well…" she said slowly, twirling a piece grass with her fingers. "You, like, like me, right?"

"Wha!" cried InuYasha, backing away slightly.

"My instincts are telling me to leave…" muttered Toboe, sitting up and crossing his arms. "Leave far, far, away…"

"Knowing them, there won't be too much stuff going on, don't worry," said Shippo sympathetically.

"SHUT UP!" roared InuYasha and Sueko. Shippo jumped behind Toboe fearfully while Toboe just smiled sheepishly. Then, like nothing had happened, InuYasha and Sueko had returned to their awkward positions.

"Haven't we been through this already?" asked InuYasha, his face turning pink.

"Yeah… I was just double-checking…" said Sueko lamely. "See… here's the thing…"

"Yes…" said InuYasha impatiently.

"Toboe's, like, my kid…" said Sueko.

"I got that part from Yoshiko," muttered InuYasha.

"Oh, so you don't care at all who the father is!" snapped Sueko angrily. "For all you know I could have slept with Koga or something, yet you don't _care_!"

"WHAT!" cried InuYasha, jumping up as though this never occurred to him before.

"I'm not here… I can't hear a word they're saying…" muttered Toboe weakly, staring furiously at some random manga he had taken out of his bag.

"I can't… Wait a… You don't mean?" said InuYasha worriedly.

"Uh huh…" said Sueko slowly.

"But…" said InuYasha, pointing from himself to Toboe and back again.

"Yeah…" said Sueko.

"You and me?" said InuYasha in a high-pitched voice.

"Uh huh…" said Sueko.

InuYasha moaned, putting a hand to his forehead. "But I wasn't planning on, like, ever having kids… _ever_…"

"And you _didn't_ have a kid," said Sueko. "I'm the one who 'had' him. You just… helped along the process."

"Let's not go there…" muttered InuYasha. Then he sighed. "This is the worst new moon _ever_. Worse than the time I got poisoned by some giant spider demon. Worse than when I got eaten by some really evil, messed up human. Worse than…"

"When you got kidnapped by a giant ogre?" said Shippo helpfully. InuYasha just laid down and covered his face while moaning some more.

"Nice to know I helped out in the process," muttered Sueko darkly.

"It's just really, really, _really_ weird!" cried InuYasha. "The only time I ever planned to 'settle' down with someone was with Kikyo, and even then I still wasn't thinking about the kid thing!"

"Maybe it's a good thing she pinned you to a tree," muttered Sueko. "Maybe she wanted to have kids and when she found out you didn't she would have gotten all pissed and dump you or something, I don't know… Can priestesses do that?"

"I didn't even think about it with Kagome," continued InuYasha thoughtfully. "It took us forever to figure out our feelings and by the time we admitted them she… died."

"Um…" said Sueko. She was a bit weirded out by an InuYasha who was saying out loud his feelings…

"Hey…" said InuYasha, sitting up and pointing a finger at Sueko. "Everyone I know dies! So do me a favor and don't!"

"I'll get right on that…" she muttered, "right after I kick Hotaka's ass. Unless Yoshiko wants to do that for me, than that's okay… I guess…"

Right after she said that InuYasha got up and walked away from the campfire a ways. Perhaps it was something she said. But Sueko didn't think that Hotaka would bug InuYasha that much. Maybe something else happened besides what everyone told her but she couldn't think of what. She wanted to do something about it but couldn't think of anything to say. After a few minutes of thinking she suddenly thought that instead of _saying_ something, she should _do_ something…

"What?" said InuYasha, surprised, as he found himself being hugged by Sueko from behind.

"Pocky?" asked Sueko cheerfully, shoving the box in his face.

"What is wrong with you?" cried InuYasha, wiggling out of Sueko's arms.

"Hey, you're the weird one!" said Sueko. "I mention a dude and you, like, leave. Kind of… Do you want the Pocky or not?"

"You sure the new moon doesn't affect you either?" asked InuYasha with his eyebrows raised.

"Fine! If you don't want any I'll just eat all of it!"

"Hey, that's mine! You can't have all of it!" cried Toboe.

"You're not the boss of me!" said Sueko. "I can have as much as I want and you can't do anything to stop me!"

"Okay, now you're just being mean…" muttered Toboe.

"Hey, I let you borrow all my manga! And I actually don't know why I have so much considering I like to read books more… Then again, my dad is really crappy with present giving and always gives people these random things… Oh yeah! I got Kirara catnip! And I forgot to give it to her! Can you believe that?"

"You got Kirara cat nip?" asked InuYasha.

"Uh huh…" said Sueko, nodding her head. "Why, bad idea?"

InuYasha just shrugged, and ignored the annoyed look he got from Sueko as an odd but vaguely familiar sound reached his ears. He didn't get enough time to think about what it could have been because it was then that the others decided to show up after their lengthy venture in the village and his question was answered by Miroku, who had a print of a palm on his face. Well, actually, there were two…

"Idiot…" muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms. Then she noticed the others looking at her and she said, "Oh, we're already here? Wow, okay… Hey, Sueko, did I miss anything?"

"Not that I can think of…" muttered Sueko.

"Are you _sure_?" asked Yoshiko teasingly. It felt as though Yoshiko was reading Sueko's mind and it made her cheeks turn a bit pink.

"Yes, perfectly sure!" cried Sueko, waving her hands in front of her face.

"Ugh, fine then…" muttered Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

With a sigh Miroku sat down beside Toboe and said wearily, "That was rather tiring."

"I'm sure it was," muttered Sango huffily, sitting as far away from Miroku as possible while still being close to the fire.

"He… Well, I…" muttered Miroku sheepishly, before widening his eyes and going, "Oh yeah!"

"What?" snapped InuYasha annoyingly, but mostly because he could tell something went on between Sango and Miroku and he wanted to know what it was, yet knew if told he wouldn't want to hear it.

Miroku stood up, shuffled around his robes for a bit, then sat back down and handed Toboe something. "There you go!"

"Huh?" said InuYasha.

"Um…" said Toboe, holding the object up and looking at it weirdly. "Oh, a crossbow! I think…"

"Hey, why's the kid get a weapon for?" snapped InuYasha.

"Oh…" said Miroku. "Sueko was being weird about it…"

"Hey, I don't want to kid to get hurt or anything…" mumbled Sueko, blushing a bit.

"Oooh, cool!" said Toboe, putting the mini arrow—called a bolt—that went with the crossbow into place and, holding it with both hands, pulled the trigger as far back as he could. There was a twang from the crossbow and then a thud when the bolt hit a tree, and then a cry from Yoshiko as she jumped out of the way.

"God dammit!" cried Yoshiko. "You're going to poke an eye out with that!"

"Sorry?" said Toboe, pointing it a different direction and looking out with one eye to try and hit the target better.

"Where'd you get… it?" asked Sueko.

"Oh… I just found it lying somewhere… Unused…" said Miroku, laughing guilty.

"I'm surprised we got out of that village alive!" snapped Sango, rolling her eyes. "That on top of being found with the Head of the Village's girlfriend!"

"Hmm…" said Miroku, scratching his head. Sango looked bitterly away and Yoshiko shook her head tiredly.

"And I thought I had a bad time…" said InuYasha.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" snapped Sueko.

"What, so you two just argued the whole time? You haven't found something better to spend your time doing?" asked Yoshiko.

"No!" snapped Sueko. "We didn't argue… we just… _talked_."

"About…?" said Yoshiko curiously, moving closer to Sueko.

"Nothing in particular!" cried Sueko hurriedly.

"Oh, I know what you did!" cried Yoshiko, smiling mischievously. "You told him, didn't you?"

"What?" said Sueko bewilderedly.

"Oh, I get it…" said Miroku.

"Huh?" said Sango. "Oh… _that_?"

"What!" cried Sueko impatiently.

"Wow, InuYasha, you couldn't even tell yourself?" asked Miroku. "It is rather obvious…"

"WHAT?" cried InuYasha and Sueko.

Toboe, who was trying to pull a bolt out of a tree with not much luck, looked up and said, "Yeah, what?"

"The 'what's' are getting rather annoying…" muttered Shippo.

"Well, no one's answering!" snapped InuYasha.

"Yeah… what he said!" said Sueko lamely, pointing a finger at InuYasha, and then after a pause crossing her arms and glaring up at Yoshiko irritatingly.

"Oh, really!" said Yoshiko with a laugh. "You haven't gotten it through that thick skull of yours yet?"

"My skull is so not thick!" snapped Sueko.

"Oh, calm down," sighed Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.

"So," said Sango to InuYasha with a smile on her face. "It's not everyday you learn you had a kid you never knew about. What's it like?"

"Huh? Hey!"

"You people are just cruel…" Sueko said in an undertone

"Stupid… dang thing…" muttered Toboe, still trying to pull the bolt out of the tree. With a hard tug it finally came loose, and caused him to fall back a few feet and land on his bottom. "Oh great… Ow…"

"Maybe you should play with your new toy later," said Sueko with a smile.

"But… oh fine…" muttered Toboe, sitting down again.

"The resemblance is quite analogous," said Miroku, continuing with the previous conversation before.

"Huh?" said Sueko—she didn't know what "analogous" meant.

"_Well_, it's like Yoshiko said," said Miroku. "His facial structure is similar to yours and his hair seems to be just as messy, but you can also see a bit of InuYasha in him."

"What!" cried InuYasha in surprise.

"See?" said Miroku, suddenly pulling Toboe closer to him and pointing out his eyes. "Same shade and everything!" Then he poked his nose and said, "And his nose is just as doggy like!"

"Hey, what are you doing?" cried Toboe.

"Oh yeah, and you can't forget the ears," said Miroku, nodding solemnly as he petted both of Toboe's ears.

"Hey! Get off of me! What are you _doing_!"

InuYasha glanced over at Toboe for a few seconds, then turned away and muttered another, "Feh."

"Hey, look!" said Yoshiko, joining in—though instead of playing around with Toboe she played around with InuYasha, pulling up InuYasha's ebony hair and going, "Aww, same hair, ain't that nice? Makes me wonder…"

"Get your hands off of me!" snapped InuYasha, pushing Yoshiko off. She didn't even try looking bothered by it and instead laughed at it.

"Hmm…" said Miroku, holding up Toboe's hand thoughtfully. "Not really Sueko's or InuYasha's… Maybe Yoshiko can say if it's Sesshomaru's…"

"Let go of me!" cried Toboe, pulling his hand away. "I'm not a doll!"

"Humph…" muttered Miroku, turning away and crossing his arms crossly. Though you could tell it was all for show.

"You sure Miroku didn't get possessed in that village?" Shippo muttered to Sango. She shook her head bitterly.

"So…" said InuYasha, sitting down back at the fire, "did you get anything to eat there?"

"Don't tell me you're hungry!" cried Sueko, hands on her hips (she still wasn't seated). "You just ate ramón!"

"So?" said InuYasha, blinking.

Sueko looked like she was at a loss for words, as she cried out in frustration, tugged at her hair, and sat down with a puff. The only one who reacted to this action was Toboe, who went over to wave the Pocky box in her face.

"Oooh!" said Sueko, grabbing the box and looking at it as if just realizing they had it lying around.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Shippo, jumping up on top of Toboe's head so he could put a hand to Sueko's forehead.

"Ahem…" muttered Toboe, glaring up at Shippo.

"I don't know…" muttered Sueko. "I think Tamika's possessing me!"

"I seriously think it's the moon," muttered InuYasha. "You're always weird on the new moon…"

"You are too!" snapped Sueko.

"I think Kagome's possessing you with all the yelling you're doing," said Sango, rolling her eyes amusingly.

"Wow, the third mentioning of Kagome today!" said Sueko, showing the amount with her hands.

"Who else said it?" asked Sango curiously.

"Oh, InuYasha," said Sueko with a shrug. "And then InuYasha…"

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Yoshiko, sitting down beside InuYasha putting a hand to his forehead.

"Bite me…" muttered InuYasha.

"I'd rather not, thank you…" muttered Yoshiko.

* * *

"Ugh…" moaned Yoshiko, frowning and glaring at the same time while clutching at her stomach. "I'm _starving_! Don't we have _anything_ to eat?"

"Pocky?" asked Toboe, dangling a box in front of her.

Yoshiko's face contorted in disgust and she pushed the box away as her hand moved up to her mouth. Sango giggled slightly and then stopped when she realized nobody else really found it funny. But she kept a smile and tried to conceal it by turning away.

"Look, we'll get some food when we get a chance to restock," snapped InuYasha. "But unfortunately we forgot to get stuff back at the last village and you don't really like people that much."

"Yes, I found it strange that you bothered to enter the village at all to retrieve Sango and myself," added Miroku quite calmly.

"Besides, its getting late and we should probably stop soon," said Sueko, shading her eyes and looking up the sky. It was quite unnecessary since the sun had just went beyond the horizon ten minutes ago. Toboe copied her but turned away when she turned to look at what Sango was laughing about. The sound of Yoshiko's stomach rumbling stopped all the talk and brought the focus back to the subject at hand.

"I say we got a bit longer and try and find a better place to stay," suggested Sango. "That way, if we find a village near by we can – "

Just then Yoshiko lifted up a hand for silence and started sniffing the air. It was quite a comical sight since mostly they had only seen her stare intently at the dark and her ears twitch when she was trying to hear something. Smelling was more of an InuYasha thing since he was half dog demon. As Sueko said, cats were far better at seeing in the dark… and Yoshiko just happened to have better hearing than InuYasha too. Suddenly Yoshiko's entire face lit up and she started walking off the path and off toward the mountains as if being pulled by a string. Everybody waited for a minute and then she popped her head back out of the trees.

"You coming?" she asked, before leaving again.

Everybody looked at each other, shrugged and followed. The walk really wasn't that long and they found themselves looking at a small village at the base of the mountain. Great farm lands spread out away from the mountains but there wasn't anything green growing. Instead there were great holes here and there. But Yoshiko completely ignored them and started right toward the village… until InuYasha grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"What _are_ you doing?" snapped InuYasha. "We don't know this village or who's living here or if there is anybody living here… I mean, look at the land!"

"But I smell food!" said Yoshiko excitedly, her eyes wide. Toboe imitated the look. Yoshiko turned quickly and glared down at him. He gave a squeak and hid behind Sueko who smiled weakly. "Besides, if it turns out to be demons we'll kill them all and take their food anyways!"

"Sheesh," said InuYasha, letting her go and putting the hand to his forehead. "But I thought you didn't _like_ villages!"

"I don't…" muttered Yoshiko darkly. "But I'm hungry enough to trust even a demon for a meal… which I guess I've already done that one."

"Excuse me?" said InuYasha, blinking.

"What, you thought Sesshomaru starved me? Nah, me and Rin ate food," said Yoshiko, shrugging and heading down toward the village. "I'm not going to bring you guys anything!" she called back, giving a backwards wave.

As soon as she entered the village she found the streets completely deserted but swore she sill smelt food… plus she could hear people moving around in the huts. She turned around and saw the others followed… InuYasha grudgingly. Yoshiko grinned at him and started out into the village. As soon as she took one step somebody rushed out and looked up at her.

"You're a Cat Demon!" he cried. "Rejoice my people, for the Gods have sent out savior!"

A cheer went up as the people flooded into the streets. Yoshiko blinked, but her hunger didn't quite leave her so she turned back toward the first man. She opened her mouth to speak, but the man spoke first.

"You travel with a Dog Demon?" he said questioningly.

"Yeah, he's my partner. Keeps away those demons that like to eat a kitty like me," said Yoshiko. "Now about some – "

"Ah, I see!" interrupted the man. "So you two shall be sleeping together."

"Excuse me…" started Yoshiko, but the man spoke over her again.

"You see we have a demon that is terrorizing our crops and we know only a Cat Demon will be able to destroy it," said the man. "Would you do this for us?"

"Well, only if – "

"You'll be well rewarded," assured the man.

"This includes – "

"Anything you wish for will be yours!" said the man. "As long is it is within out means."

"Yeah, that's nice but what I really want is – "

"I'll be sure to make a nice cozy bed for you and your Dog Demon," sighed the man.

"COULD YOU SHUT UP FOR ONE MINUTE!" shouted Yoshiko. Everybody stopped speaking and she stood there, breathing heavily. "I'll do ANYTHING I just want FOOD!"

"Ah, that will be arranged," said the man, nodding solemnly. "You will be led to your rooms…"

"Rooms?" said Sueko, coming forward.

"Yes! The Cat and Dog Demon will get a place of honor. We only have enough for two heroes," said the man as if it were obvious. "The rest of you will be treated as side kicks… higher than most men but not first class I'm sorry to say."

"Wait, when was I involved in the Hero business?" said InuYasha moodily.

"I'm _hungry_!" hissed Yoshiko dangerously. "Just _deal_ with it!"

"Ahhhh!" said Miroku, smiling and putting an arm around her neck. "I love a fiery girl."

"What do you think of this?" muttered Sango, hitting him on the head with her large boomerang. Yoshiko finished off by grabbing his arm and flipping him over her head to land on his back… hard.

"Hmph!" she said, turning away and putting her nose in the air and following the man toward a large hut. She grabbed InuYasha by the arm and dragged him after her.

* * *

Normally Sueko would be totally worried about Yoshiko and InuYasha sharing a room together, alone… she was just the sort of person to freak out about things. But right now she wasn't paranoid about anything at all. Then again, Yoshiko and InuYasha wouldn't get anything done tonight besides a bunch of arguing. There wouldn't be enough time to go to… other stuff…

Besides, it turns out that InuYasha and Sueko got together and had a kid of their own anyways, so if he _did_ do it with Yoshiko Sueko would have the perfect excuse to say "Sit" a billion, trillion, gazillion times!

"Ha! Take that, InuYasha!" cried Sueko, jumping up and holding her fist up in the air breathlessly.

"Come again?" said Miroku, blinking up at her from his food.

"Er…" cried Sueko, her eye twitching. Then she sat down and bowed her head so her hair was in her face. "Never mind…"

"Don't worry about those two," said Sango. "They'll be too busy biting each other's heads off to ever fall asleep."

"I KNOW THAT!" snapped Sueko. Then, her eyes wide and her face flushed with embarrassment, she laid down and covered her head, moaning something too muffled by the pillow to understand.

"I take it you won't eat anything…" said Toboe.

"Leave the poor girl alone," said Miroku solemnly.

"I am!" cried Toboe. "I'm just hungry… and I finished all my food…"

"Have it…" mumbled Sueko from her pillow.

"Wahoo!" cried Toboe, grabbing Sueko's food and stuffing his face.

A few minutes later this odd "Boing!" noise filled Toboe's ears, but he had no clue what it could be. Plus it didn't look like anyone else in the room had heard it. He figured it would be best not to mention it, incase he was just making up weird noises in his own head…

But then it felt like something landed on his nose. Now that he _couldn't_ ignore… it was just really itchy. How could he enjoy food if his nose was itchy? However, before he could lift his hand to brush whatever was irritating his nose away, it talked. Since when did specks of dust talk?

Well, actually, it just turned out to be a bug—a flea, to be exact. It had been sucking Toboe's blood before stopped and crying out, "Wait a second… this doesn't taste like Lord InuYasha's blood…"

"Eh?" said Toboe, making a face.

"Hey, it's Myoga!" exclaimed Shippo, going over to Toboe to get a closer look.

"But how could you not be Lord InuYasha and yet have the blood of the Great Dog Demon in you?" asked the flea, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Wait a minute…" muttered Toboe. He lifted Myoga off his nose and onto the table. "There, now you're off my nose! But hey, is that really you, Myoga?"

"Ah, yes, that'd be me…" said Myoga, trying to sound modest. Then his eyes widened and he cried out, "Hey! I command to know why you have the blood of the Great Dog Demon in you!"

"I don't know…" muttered Toboe, scratching his head. "Who's that supposed to be?"

"You don't…" started Myoga, his mouth dropping. "He was once the greatest demon in all of Japan!"

"And that was a long time ago…" yawned Toboe.

"You ungrateful…" muttered Myoga furiously. "Who are you?"

"Toboe!" he said, grinning and showing a thumbs-up.

"What a peculiar name…" muttered Myoga.

"Everyone says that…" mumbled Toboe, crossing his arms.

"So, are you going to answer my question or not?" asked Myoga.

"How can I?" cried Toboe. "I don't know who that Great Dog Dude Thing is…"

"I believe," said Miroku thoughtfully, "that Myoga's referring to InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's father…"

"Oh," said Toboe, smiling sheepishly. "That dude…"

"How dare you call the great lord names!" snapped Myoga.

"What? 'Dude'?" said Toboe. "I got it off _Digimon_!"

"Figures…" muttered Sueko, sitting up but looking away and crossing her arms. Her hair was rather messy from the pillow but she didn't seem to notice.

"So you wanna know why I _taste_ like dad, don't you?" said Toboe mischievously, kneeling on the table. "Wait, that sounds weird…"

"It would be a nice thing to be informed about…" muttered Myoga, looking towards everyone else for some help. "Wait! Where's Lord InuYasha and Yoshiko, anyways?"

"They're sleeping together in the other room," said Sueko simply. Then her eyes widened and her face blushed. "Wait, that didn't sound right! Just forgot what I said! Everything I say is meaningless!" she cried, waving her arms in the air in excitement before falling down sideways. Crying out, she sat back up and sat fuming over her own foolishness.

"The village was greatly honored by their presence and gave them the better room," Miroku said calmly.

"Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh…" muttered Sueko.

"And who's this boy right here?" asked Myoga.

"I already told you, I'm Toboe!"

"A name alone doesn't answer my question!" snapped Myoga. "How could you possibly share the Great Dog Demons blood if he only bore two sons." Then Myoga sighed and muttered, "Unless he had another son and never informed me… Wait, why would he never tell his faithful servant about a third son? Have I dishonored him in some way? What have I been dishonorable about? I've always been deeply loyal to Master!"

"Except when you run away after sensing any sort of danger… _coward_…" muttered Sango.

"Ah… um… er… about that…" muttered Myoga sheepishly.

"That's why you left!" said Toboe excitedly. "You were rarely ever around the village anyways, but then Hotaka just kept attempting to kill everyone and you just left completely! Same with Takeno… I kinda liked Takeno…"

"What rubbish are you spouting, lad?" snapped Myoga.

"Nothing!" cried Toboe, smiling sheepishly. "Don't mind me!"

"So are you the mysterious third son of the Great Dog Demon?" asked Myoga curiously.

"Of course not!" cried Toboe, laughing a little.

"Then how…" started Myoga, speechless in wonderment.

"You haven't figured it out by now?" said Toboe cheerfully. "Everyone else has."

"Hmm…"

"InuYasha's my daddy! Wait, that sounds weird…"

Myoga blinked a few times. Then he totally freaked out.

"Kagome bore his child without telling me? Wait, he didn't know Kagome that long… Then he'd have to have let the priestess Kikyo bare his child… But why didn't Lord InuYasha tell me! What have I ever done to him to dishonor him!"

"Not this again…" muttered Sango wearily.

"Kagome… Kikyo…" muttered Sueko, her eye muscle twitching.

"Ugh, Kikyo sounds like she would be a very weird mom," said Toboe, shaking his head.

"My head's spinning…" muttered Myoga. "Whose child are you?"

"InuYasha's and Yoshiko's!" cried Toboe cheerfully. Sueko cried out and hit him on the head.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS YOUR MOM!" bellowed Sueko dangerously.

"I did… I was just kidding…" mumbled Toboe, sheepishly, shielding his head.

"InuYasha and the 'Last One' had a child… how…" said Myoga.

"Um…time travel?" asked Toboe.

"What, they went to Kagome's time and did it?" asked Myoga.

"Kagome's time!" snapped Sueko.

"No…More like I'm from the future in the past…and then went back in time to the future, and then went to the past!" said Toboe brightly.

"What?" said everyone else.

"Hey, that made perfect sense…" said Toboe, crossing his arms.

"It did not!" cried Myoga.

Sighing, Sueko pointed her finger up and said rather moodily, "Okay, Toboe's from the future, but not so far in the future as me, more like about twenty years from now…or something like that. And there in that little freaky messed up dimension where Hotaka is having so much fun killing everyone he broke the well so… no one could hide, I suppose. And then, like, Toboe used this object from my time and managed to get the well to work, and got to my time frame! And then he went with me when I came back here! There we go, the end… That was so freakin' complicated…"

"I see…" said Myoga, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"That's _it_?" snapped Sueko. "I give you this perfect, yet brief and short explanation of a very complicated matter and all you have to say about it is 'I see'!"

"Who are you, InuYasha?" muttered Shippo. But then he hid behind Toboe when she glared at him. "She's worse than Kagome…" Shippo mumbled meekly.

"Interesting…" muttered Myoga.

"What? Sueko's resemblance to Kagome?" blinked Shippo.

"I'm _not_ like Kagome!"

"No, the fact Toboe was able to go through the destroyed well in his time and get here…" said Myoga. "I guess because of the item he was able too."

"You know what's even more interesting?" said Toboe, sighing dreamily. "How a bunch of kids just suddenly get transported to this other world and get their very own Digimon! I wanna be a Digidestined!"

"I'm never letting you go anywhere near a television ever again!" snapped Sueko.

"Yes, ma'am…" muttered Toboe.

"I wonder how InuYasha reacted to the news…" thought Myoga out loud.

"Er…" said Sueko. "Just fine?"

"Really?" said Myoga, astonished. "Master has never been that reasonable about astonishing news… He really has changed, has he…"

"Well, he did freak out, but I meant besides that…" mumbled Sueko, scratching her head sheepishly.

"That's good to know…" sighed Myoga. "A calm InuYasha is really something you'd have to worry about…"

"Uh huh…" agreed Toboe, nodding his head vigorously.

"So did you find out anything interesting while you were gone?" asked Shippo.

"Not really…" sighed Myoga.

"You were gone all that time and found out nothing at all?" cried Sueko. "I thought that was your job!"

"It isn't that easy to find out information about the 'Last One' considering very few people know about it," said Myoga defensively.

"True…" said Sueko. "Hey, maybe you could just bug Yukie for a while."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind…"

* * *

"Now I'm _exhausted_!" shouted Yoshiko, putting her hands on her lower back. "And my back hurts. What kind of floors are those?"

"You were the one that insisted on one bed!" snapped InuYasha. When he saw Sueko come nearer, he turned away quickly, crossing his arms.

"No, I just wasn't in the mood to argue the case," hissed Yoshiko, her eyes narrowing. "You do realize the _floors_ wasn't the only thing that was hard."

"I'm sorry, I guess I don't," shouted InuYasha. "But it's not my fault you didn't sleep, okay?"

"Yes it is! Once you finally got tired and went to sleep you hogged the entire bed," snapped Yoshiko. "How am I supposed to fight a demon like this?"

"Maybe we'll get lucky, it'll eat you and be full," muttered InuYasha. "OW!" he cried when Yoshiko hit him over the head.

"What's going on?" asked Sango, lifting her boomerang over her shoulder.

"InuYasha and Yoshiko are arguing," sighed Miroku with a large shrug. "What did you expect?"

"SHUT UP!" shouted InuYasha and Yoshiko at the same time. Then they caught sight of Sueko's freaked out face. "What's wrong?" they asked simultaneously.

"N-nothing…" said Sueko shakily, turning away. Toboe rushed over and grabbed her hand causing her to freak out even more.

"So… what exactly did you two do last night?" asked Miroku slyly, standing closer to Yoshiko.

"Huh?" cried Sueko, nearly tripping.

"NOTHING!" cried InuYasha and Yoshiko. They turned to glare at each other. Finally, Yoshiko hit InuYasha over the head and turned back to Miroku. "Don't jump to any conclusions monk!" she said, pointing an accusing finger in Miroku's face.

"You know… why should we be ashamed of what we did," said InuYasha thoughtfully. "It's not like–"

"SIT BOY!" shouted Sueko.

"What I do this time?" whined InuYasha from the ground. "Usually I deserve it…"

"Ah, you're all up!" said the village leader, walking over with his hands behind his back. "So you shall now go into the mountains and destroy the ferocious Bird Demon."

"Yeah, we'll take care of your canary…" muttered Yoshiko. "I think we deserve some food to take with and meal when we return! And better beds… At least _bigger _ones."

"Uh… of, of course!" stammered the little man. Then he cleared his throat. "Food has already been packed into your bags. We will be sure to prepare you a great feast if you return."

"If?" said Yoshiko, blinking. "You have no confidence! Maybe I won't go but take all the food anyways."

"Now, now," said Miroku, patting her shoulder. "That's no way to repay their hospitality. Be sure that we will take care of your… canary…"

"Smooth…" murmured Yoshiko, walking off. "InuYasha, be a dear and grab my bag!"

"How about not?" shouted InuYasha, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Maybe you'll take Sueko's as well," said Yoshiko off handedly. "Or I could just take the Tetsusaiga," she added, holding up InuYasha's sword.

"H-hey!" shouted InuYasha. "H-how… Oh, fine!"

"Good boy!" said Yoshiko, grinning, turning around and tossing the sword back. "Now let's move out gang!"

* * *

As if Yoshiko hadn't done enough complaining already. No more than ten minutes into their hike in the mountains she started saying her back was hurting. Even further along she said she was tired of walking. She looked pointedly at InuYasha but didn't say anything except her feet were killing her. He was, of course, already carrying two bags. Eventually even good-natured Sango couldn't sand her anymore.

"Will you shut up?" she snapped, turning around and putting her fists on her hips as she glared at Yoshiko

"Oh, okay. Then _you_ think of something to talk about," said Yoshiko good-naturedly, walking past the demon slayer.

"She's much more annoying than me," said Myoga from Sueko's shoulder.

"Wow!" said Sueko, her eyes wide in surprise. "You're actually coming along? We're going to kill a demon yah know!"

"Yes, well," said Myoga, sweating, "you're not fighting just this instance… and I could be of assistance… and… I was going to tell you something… See ya!"

With that Myoga sprang from Sueko's shoulder and leapt back down the mountain. Shippo jumped up to take his place while Toboe stared after him.

"Hey, he was going to tell us something!" cried Shippo. "We should go after him."

"Feh…" muttered InuYasha, walking after Yoshiko.

"Oh… InuYasha, wait up!" cried Sueko, running to catch up but he didn't seem to hear her.

Yoshiko was much quieter this part of the trip though she kept holding her lower back. Just when things were stating to look up… they had to go over an old, rickety, rope bridge. And Sueko hated heights!

"Oh… moaned Yoshiko, gripping both sides of the bridge tightly, "I think I'm going to be sick…"

InuYasha merely rolled his eyes and walked across the bridge to join Sango and Miroku. He set down the packs and turned back around. Just as he was coming back on (probably to help Sueko) she tripped. InuYasha reached out a hand to grab her but she was already getting back on her feet when he reached her.

"You okay?" asked Yoshiko, smiling and helping Sueko all the way across the bridge.

"Uh huh…" said Sueko, nodding her head. "Thanks!"

"No problem," said Yoshiko, picking up the bags and handing them to InuYasha. She grinned at him as she said, "Nice try… Looks like you missed."

"Uh huh…" said Miroku, turning away.

"Hmmmm…" said Shippo staring up at them intently.

"Oh…" muttered Sueko, her head dropping.

"What I miss?" asked Sango, looking from one person to another.

"Feh."

* * *

"InuYasha, have a heart!" cried Shippo, rushing up to the half dog demon at the front of the group. "Yoshiko hasn't complained since the beginning of the trip but her back still hurts. We should stop before it gets too dark!"

"Since when did you care?" snapped InuYasha. Despite this he sighed, stopped and turned to the rest of the group. The only one who really looked exhausted was Sueko but she hadn't been complaining because everybody else had noticed Yoshiko still holding her back. Nobody was exactly sure what had made her back hurt so much and they weren't willing to ask. But everybody had their own ideas. At least, that's what Shippo _suspected_ and he was very proud of his new, big word.

"Where do you suggest setting camp?" asked Miroku, holding out a hand to help Yoshiko up.

"How about over there," said Yoshiko, ignoring the hand the pointing toward a small clump of trees between a wall and a drop off.

"Isn't that a little close to the edge?" asked Sueko, a little high pitched.

"Demons will be less likely to surprise attack us there," said Sango taking Miroku's proffered hand instead.

"Sounds great!" said Shippo. "InuYasha, Sueko and Yoshiko can set up the tents while the rest of us go get firewood!"

"Why am I stuck with tent duty?" snapped InuYasha. "And who put you in charge anyways?"

"Actually, it makes sense," said Sango.

"Very much so," agreed Miroku.

"I'm game," said Yoshiko, grabbing InuYasha and Sueko and leading them off.

"But… but… there are trees right at – " started Sueko before they were out of hearing range.

"There were some better trees down a little bit," said Miroku after a long pause.

"Alright," said Sango.

Chuckling in a satisfied way, Shippo glanced back at the trio before following Miroku and Sango. Once they found the pathetic looking trees Miroku put up a pretense of getting wood. After a while Sango glanced back up the mountain as if to make sure nobody had followed them. Eventually both humans turned toward Shippo who jumped up on a rock to be more to eye level with the humans. Being small had its advantages but it hurt his neck looking up at everybody.

"So, what's on your mind little Shippo?" asked Miroku, sitting down.

"Yoshiko!" said Shippo. He paused dramatically, watching the two humans for their reaction. Disappointingly they both didn't look surprised at all. _'Wait until they hear the rest of it,'_ though Shippo before continuing. "I know she apparently likes Sesshomaru and apparently she's trying to get Sueko and InuYasha together. But what if this is just to cover up the fact that she really likes InuYasha? And she acts so much like Kagome it would be no wonder that InuYasha didn't like her too."

"That is an interesting observation," said Miroku, stroking his chin.

"Seems reasonable to me," said Sango. "What do you think Miroku?"

"If it's true then we will have another love triangle: Yoshiko, InuYasha and Sueko. Add in Sesshomaru and things get pretty ugly," said Miroku thoughtfully. Then he looked up grinning. "I just hope I can watch it without being in the middle of it."

"Uh…" said Sango, blinking before sighing and dropping her head. "You're hopeless."

"Don't you get it?" cried Shippo, getting to his feet. "We have to decide which we like more. Personally I'm sticking with Yoshiko and InuYasha. But I like Sueko and I don't want her feelings to be hurt…"

"Possibly she likes somebody from her own time," said Miroku. "I could ask her about her friends and possibly persuade her to think she likes them more than InuYasha."

"You do realize we're going to be undoing everything Yoshiko has already done, right?" said Sango.

In one exchange of glances everybody decided it was worth the risk.

'_Besides,'_ thought Shippo, as they walked back to camp. _'Yoshiko already messed up everything she put into play when she slept with InuYasha…'_

"What am I thinking?" cried Shippo suddenly, dropping his small pile of wood and hitting himself on the head. "That's disgusting. I don't want to be thinking about that sort of thing. Ew, ew, ew!"

* * *

Shippo was starting to bug her. First he was insistent on stopping to rest and breaking up the group. He'd also forgotten about Toboe. How could he ? Toboe was so nice, cute, adorable and fascinating! Plus once he came back he had this mischievous look in his eye. It bugged Yoshiko so much she forgot she was about to pull InuYasha's ears from behind.

When dinner was made she felt sick and had to excuse herself. As soon as she stood up Miroku immediately filled her space. After a short walk Yoshiko was starting to fell better. Exiting the small clump of trees she found InuYasha waiting for her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?" said Yoshiko, blinking.

"Everybody got a little worried after they noticed it wasn't just complaining," shrugged InuYasha. "Guess they just all expect me to figure out what's up."

Stifling a giggle, Yoshiko turned to look at the moon. It was amazing how close it was to being half after the new moon. They stood there for a just a moment when suddenly InuYasha spoke up again.

"So, why didn't you go with Sesshomaru?" he asked in what he supposed to be an off-handed tone.

"Why do you care?" laughed Yoshiko.

"I don't!" said InuYasha, his cheeks going a bit pink. "Everybody else is just curious! Haven't you figured that out yet?"

"Look, it's not like we're fighting anymore, so why should you worry?" Yoshiko said, continuing to laugh. "I just find it weird that they always send you because we're constantly fighting!"

"We're not fighting right now," said InuYasha, crossing his arms and looking her straight in the eyes.

"No, I guess not," giggled Yoshiko, closing her eyes and smiling.

When she opened her eyes again she noticed that InuYasha was still staring at her seriously. Their eyes locked and she couldn't help but the notice that his were the same hazel as Sesshomaru's. Though InuYasha's were far softer and she figured that had to do mostly because of Kagome. Without realizing what was going on the two moved closer, Yoshiko only thinking about how great it would be if she could make Sesshomaru's eyes as soft as InuYasha's. The accidental kiss had hardly started when they heard a gasp.

"Ahhh!" cried Yoshiko, jumping half a foot in the air and landing a fair distance from InuYasha.

"It wasn't what you're thinking!" said InuYasha, looking horrified as he stared at, unfortunately enough, Sueko.

"Yeah… okay…" said Sueko, looking at the two of them blankly. "I'm just… going to go to bed…"

"Hey, wait a minute!" shouted InuYasha, reaching out for her.

"Just let her go…" muttered Yoshiko, starting to feel guilty.

"But…" started InuYasha, turning toward her as Sueko ran off.

"I said let her go!" snapped Yoshiko. "Argh, I'm going to bed too… And you should too Shippo!"

The little fox demon gave a squeak and dived back into the tent. Yoshiko put a hand to her forehead and turned back to InuYasha.

"You do realize what this is all about, right?" she said with a small smile.

"Um… not really…" sighed InuYasha, watching where Sueko had been glumly.

"Well since this my mess up everything I worked so hard on I'm going to tell you!" said Yoshiko, grabbing his arm and dragging him off.

"Wh-what?" said InuYasha in surprise.

"Shush!"

"Uhhhh," sighed Yoshiko half way through their second day. "I feel much better today."

"Are you sure?" said Miroku slyly. "No back pain or morning sickness?"

"What are you trying to get at?" asked Sango, raising an eyebrow at the monk as Yoshiko ignored him. Or seemingly ignored him.

Toboe, Shippo, Sueko and InuYasha were the only ones that hadn't really said anything on the trip so far. And Yoshiko didn't really blame them. Well Shippo seemed a little weird, but she figured she knew why. Finally, when everybody was just about to forget why they had come up this barren mountain place in the first place, they started noticing signs of life. And it started to show why the mountain only had a few tree's here and there. This demon, whatever it was, liked to uproot trees and knock over boulders and dig holes. She couldn't see what a bird of any kind would find interesting about the ground. About half an hour from the first signs of life the mountain leveled out to a sort of plateau.

"Yay!" cried Yoshiko, raising a fist in triumph. "Made it!"

She turned around to see Sueko, Toboe and Shippo all panting while the others looked around for the demon. Rolling her eyes, Yoshiko noticed InuYasha glance at her before dropping the bags and moving off into the middle of the plateau thing. A sound like a crow and nails on a chalk board met their ears.

"Ahhh!" screamed Yoshiko, putting her hands over her ears. "I like my ears where they are, leave them alone!"

A thud was the end of the horrible noise and everybody turned to face the demon. InuYasha stood in the shadow of the beast looking up at it in shock. And who could blame him? The villagers had talked about a bird demon but they had made it out to be some horrible thing. They didn't say anything about a giant chicken. And Yoshiko had only been joking when she had been saying "canary." This was far more amusing than that!

"Well, this should be quick!" laughed InuYasha, drawing his sword. "Looks like we're going to have fried chicken tonight!"

"Ew…" said Yoshiko, blanching. "That doesn't sound very good…"

"You're going to waste Tetsusaiga on that thing?" said Toboe, making everybody jump because he had hardly said anything during this entire trip.

"Caw!" cried the chicken, the noise not seeming as horrible now that you could see its silly appearance.

"So who wants to take care of the chicken?" laughed Yoshiko. "Oh, I know! Sueko can!"

"Me?" cried Sueko. "Why?"

"Because it'll be excellent practice," said InuYasha, sheathing his sword and walking a little away from the demon chicken. "We'll be right here in case you make a mistake."

"Which you won't!" said Yoshiko, pushing the girl toward the chicken.

"I guess…" muttered Sueko, pulling out her sword. Yoshiko was disappointed to see that it wasn't glowing. "Um… die?" Sueko said, pointing her sword loosely at the demon chicken.

Yoshiko rolled her eyes.

"Caw!" cried the chicken, dropping its head down to Sueko's level. Suddenly flames came out of its mouth. InuYasha started to rush forward but stopped when he saw that Sueko had put up her shield.

"Okay, that was mean!" cried Sueko, waving her sword at the chicken. It lifted one of its feet to squish her, but when it touched her sword it stopped suddenly. Then slowly but surely it started to shrink until it was the size of, well, a chicken.

"Great job!" said InuYasha, walking toward her.

"But I didn't do anything!" cried Sueko.

"Sure you did, you just got to figure out how you do those things so you can do them purposefully," said Yoshiko.

"Uuuuuugh! Why are you helping them?" cried Shippo suddenly, pointing an accusing finger at Yoshiko.

"Hmmmm?" said Yoshiko, blinking.

"Ahhh, it was nothing!" cried Miroku, grabbing the little fox demon and putting a hand over his mouth.

"Yeah, don't mind him!" laughed Sango sheepishly.

"What I miss?" said Toboe.

"Get off!" cried Shippo, wriggling out of Miroku's hands. "Admit it Yoshiko, you like InuYasha!"

"Yeah, and that's why I spend so much time with Sesshomaru," said Yoshiko rolling her eyes.

"You two kissed!" said Shippo.

"Me and Sesshomaru? Yeah, but how'd you find out about that?" said Yoshiko, blinking.

"I'm not talking about… you did?" said Shippo, blinking.

"That's beside the point," said Miroku, stepping in swiftly. "What we're talking about is you and InuYasha last night and the night before."

"Wait, you're a part of this too?" shouted InuYasha.

"Hey, I thought we agreed I was going to deal with this," snapped Yoshiko.

"I'm confused…" said Sueko, holding her head.

"Me too…" muttered Toboe.

"Did you or did you not have sex with InuYasha two nights before?" sighed Miroku.

"What?" cried Sango. "You didn't tell me about that!"

Yoshiko stared at the three for a minute, her face completely blank. InuYasha's eyebrow was twitching and Sueko kept blinking. Suddenly Toboe cried out and put his hands over his doggy ears.

"No! Sueko's my mommy, not Yoshiko! Yoshiko is cool, but I don't want her to be my mommy! She's my aunt!" cried Toboe. This soon just turned into him saying 'no' over and over again, slowly getting quieter. When everybody turned away from him Yoshiko burst out laughing.

"Okay, now I get it!" she said, when she had calmed down. "No, me and InuYasha did not have sex. We had to share the same bed because the hut we got to ourselves was small and half of it was dank, not the best place to sleep," explained Yoshiko. "And the back pain and sickness was not because I was pregnant. If I was pregnant that would mean I had had sex long before yesterday. No, I'm just on my period and it just got really bad so I felt sick a lot. So finally, me and InuYasha don't like each other, we're just really good friends because we both happen to be half-demons."

"But… you're so much like Kagome…" muttered Shippo, sitting down and looking pitiful as he looked down at the ground.

"What was up with the kiss then?" asked Sueko, not looking like it bothered her anymore.

"Hormones?" said Yoshiko, looking at the sky. "I don't know. I was just noticing that InuYasha's eyes were hazel. I have no idea what he was thinking and he won't tell me."

"Like you need to know…" murmured InuYasha, turning pink and looking away.

"He was thinking how much you act like Kagome!" cried Shippo triumphantly, standing up. "Ow!" he cried as Yoshiko hit him on the head.

"You know, we went over this once before you little twerp," said Yoshiko, glaring at him.

"We… we did?" stammered Shippo, taking a step back.

"Yeah…"

"Um…" said Shippo, thinking really hard. "Oh yeah! It was the half-moon and you and InuYasha had walked off together… alone… Then you came back holding his arm."

Yoshiko hit him again. "And you said you weren't going to say anything…"

"Sorry!" cried Shippo. "I won't ever mention it again," he said, bowing at Yoshiko's feet. "Sorry, sorry, sorry…"

"And you two!" said Yoshiko, stepping around the fox demon and looking at Miroku and Sango. "I bet you expected some sort of fight…" she said, looking pointedly at Miroku.

"Guilty as charged!" laughed Miroku.

"You're hopeless…" muttered Sango, walking off.

"Can we go now?" asked Sueko, looking much happier now that everything was explained.

"Yeah, sounds good… InuYasha, are you okay?" asked Yoshiko, blinking at him.

"Yeah…" muttered InuYasha, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Miroku.

The trip back down the mountain was much quicker. Yoshiko agreed to carry her bag back down but insisted that InuYasha continue to carry Sueko's. When they reached the bridge Sueko was the first one across, rushing over like her life depended on it. InuYasha followed afterwards quickly. Yoshiko was the last over holding on for dear life.

"I feel like I'm going to be sick again…" she muttered, almost about to stand on solid ground again when she tripped over a loose board.

"Got you!" said InuYasha, helping her the rest of the way across.

"Nice catch, InuYasha," said Miroku.

"Well," said InuYasha, blushing, "I had to make up for missing Sueko…"

"InuYasha," said Sueko, standing on her tip toes and kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you…"

Then, with her face bright red, she rushed off. Yoshiko laughed and left InuYasha to his thoughts to make sure Sueko didn't get lost. Except for the fact that Shippo was completely moody, everything seemed to be back to normal. Oh, and Yoshiko's cramps were ultra bad, but other than that things were fine. Okay, Sueko was being more ditzy than usual since she kissed InuYasha, but that was to be expected, right?

Alright, things weren't completely back to normal. And Yoshiko could so tell that Shippo wasn't about to give up on her and InuYasha. But she was ready for it…

Well, kind of.


End file.
